Admiration of a Witch
by URNP
Summary: A witch goes on a quest to try to win Bill's affection after saving him from a horde attack. This story has been discontinued since October 14, 2010. Tabuu99 will write a revision of this story, and it should appear on his/her account sometime in the (near) future.
1. Encountering The Witch

"This is going to hell in a hand basket real fast!" Bill yelled, terrified.

His last living teammate had just died from bleeding out while he killed the remaining infected in the area. A little earlier that evening, as the survivors were traveling through the sewers near Mercy Hospital, a boomer emerged from one of the pipes and puked on all, but one survivor, Bill.

The stench of the boomer bile had attracted a horde of infected. The survivors were low on ammunition for their more powerful weapons, so they had to switch to their pistols. Bill had fought side-by-side with them, but even that wasn't enough to save Francis, Louis, and Zoey. It wasn't enough to save them from their inevitable fate.

Bill didn't have enough ammunition in his assault rifle to defeat the horde nor did he have any explosives. The only way he could assist his teammates was to use his handgun, which was weak compared to a horde of zombies. He wasn't expecting this, even though he had taken two trips to Vietnam during the war. Even if he spent nearly thirty years in the military before retiring, Bill was never prepare to face the death of any comrades.

He also tried to avoid such fate. He tried many times - rather it was during his years in the service or during the zombie apocalypse - to save his teammates, but not all times was he successful. That was one of things the veteran hated. Bill had found himself in another situation where he was unable to save his teammates.

Bill didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't hide the fact that he was now alone in a city infested with the infected. He knew that standing in one spot too long will put him at a high risk of getting attack by another horde, so he decided to move. He looked around as he walked. The smell of the sewerage was foul.

He began wondering how far he was from the hospital, but stopped as a cry was suddenly heard. An all too familiar cry. Bill immediately clicked off his flashlight.

_Dammit, a witch. That is the __**last**__ thing I needed,_ he thought, walking a little faster.

He then told himself that it could be worse, like encountering a Tank. The witch's cries continued as Bill traveled through the sewers, growing louder with every step he took. A minute later, the veteran spotted a red emergency ladder. He hurried over to it, then climbed it.

A moment later, he made it to the surface. The war veteran looked around. Mercy Hospital was ahead. In front of it was an abandoned paramedic vehicle. A spark of hope appeared inside of him.

_There's the hospital!_ he thought, climbing out of the manhole.

To Bill's luck, no common infected were around. He began making his way toward the hospital's double glass doors.

Cool air blew in his direction, making Bill shiver. He stopped walking and reached a hand toward his jacket to close it, but stopped when he noticed a glowing red light ahead. He narrowed his eyes at it.

The Witch, glowing red, sat in front of the glass doors, crying and sobbing. Her back was to him.

"Shit, witch," Bill said, eyes widening.

She was blocking his only way into the hospital. How was he going to get pass her? Bill decided to resume approaching her. The Witch, upon hearing the sound of his footsteps, immediately stopped crying.

She began letting out low groans as she stood up. Her groans grew louder as she raised her arms with hands that had long, claw-like nails. Bill stopped walking, a few feet from her. The infected woman decided she would look around for the source of the footsteps after outstretching her arms.

She then violently shook them before turning around. When she noticed Bill, the Witch's loud groans suddenly stopped. She stared at him, her arms paused in midair. Bill stared at her, slowly pulling out his pistol from its holster.

As the infected woman stared at him, a memory appeared in her mind. A memory she thought she had forgotten before she'd changed into the creature she was now. In her previous life, this witch used to be a fan of James Bond. She had seen all the movies and had read all the novels.

She was especially a fan of Sean Connery, who played the first Bond. For some reason, the emaciated female thought this old man resembled him. To her, William looked like Sean when he was old - but only in the face. She wasn't sure if he was Scottish like Sean, but despite that, the Witch believed Bill was the closest person to him.

The Witch was considering if she should attack him or not. After she became infected, she would attack anyone who decided to approach her. Bill took a step back, raising his pistol. He was beginning to think he should have went looking for another handgun.

If the infected decided to attack, then he will be as good as dead. Bill stared as the Witch had a thoughtful expression on her face. After a moment, her expression changed. He couldn't really tell, but it appeared that she was now smiling.

_What the hell is she planning to do?_ Bill thought, taking another step back.

Suddenly, the Witch ran toward him with her outstretched arms, letting out a shriek. Bill's eyes widened as he backed up some more. He began firing her with his pistol. Unfortunately for him, it didn't cause enough damage to slow her down.

Next thing he knew, the Witch had reached him. Bill expected her to incapacitate him with one slash of her long nails and kill him, but to his surprise, she did something he didn't even _think_ a witch would do. The Witch wrapped her bony arms around him as if she was giving him a hug. The veteran let out a low cry of surprise as the Witch's smile grew wider.

_A hug?_ he thought, confused.

He tried to pull out of her grasp, but the infected woman had a strong grip on him. The Witch let out low moans as she held him in her arms. After a moment, Bill managed to pull away from her. He took another step back, causing his boot to bump into a yellow bumper.

The Witch smiled again before shyly turning away. The elder's eyes repeatedly blinked before shifting from the infected female to the glass doors behind her. He noticed if he could run pass her, then he could reach the hospital's entrance. He was old and not in a very good shape, so how was Bill going to outrace a fast-running witch?

He looked down at his pistol, and remembered that his weapon didn't really affect her. He began to think of what he could do next. Maybe the elder could ignore her and head to the hospital? Nah, that wouldn't work.

_What should I do?_ Bill thought. _A horde of those bastards may show up any minute now._

The Witch turned back to him. Bill was ignoring her as he thought. She reached her hand towards his, trying to grab it. She ended up poking his hand with her overgrown nails.

Bill immediately snapped out of his thoughts, as he felt sharp pain in his hand. He cried out, before raising his hand to his face. Red marks were on his palm, fingers and the back of his hand. He narrowed his eyes as he turned toward her.

The veteran grabbed her wrist with his aching hand, then tightened his grip. The infected female let out a low cry. Bill put her arm in between them, then raised it so both of them could look at her nails. He glared at her.

"What the hell was that for?" he demanded, as the cigarette bobbed up and down in his mouth when he spoke.

The senior loosened his grip on her wrist. The Witch pulled her arm out of his grasp, looked down at it for a moment, then looked back at Bill. Tears began to fill her eyes as she frowned. This witch used to be a very emotional woman.

Even fictional stories that had sad moments always brought her to tears. Apparently, that hadn't diminished. The Witch let out a low moan as her eyes sparkled. Bill held his aching hand, staring at her as she made a gesture toward the hand she had poked him with while moving her lips.

The only sounds that came out of her mouth were moans. Bill blinked as he turned his head away. The Witch sat down and began to sob. She looked up at him, tears streaming down her colorless face.

He ignored her. The Witch reached both hands out to grab his combat boot so she can recapture his attention. Remembering what happened when she tried to grab his hand, she immediately pulled her arms back, then stared down at her nails. Her facial features quickly changed from sadness to anger.

Not only she hated being this ugly, emaciated creature, but her deadly nails was the reason why the Vietnam War veteran was mad at her. The Witch wanted to destroy her nails, since she thought it was the only thing preventing her from being with Bill. She began letting out groans, before slamming her nails against the asphalt.

She was hoping they would break off. Bill turned back to the Witch upon hearing her groans and her nails hitting the ground. He watched. As he did, he suddenly felt some guilt, knowing she was doing that because of what he'd said.

_Maybe I've been a little harsh on her, _Bill realized.

No matter how hard the Witch was hitting her nails on the ground, they wouldn't break off. Not even a small piece chipped off. Realizing that, the emaciated woman began to cry. This time, she cried louder.

Bill repeatedly blinked as a thought suddenly struck him. He can't believe he was thinking about doing this, but if he decided to apologize to the Witch, maybe she'll let him enter the hospital without any harm. That brought another question to him. How do you apologize to a witch, an easily-enraged infected who usually wants to be left alone?

There's only one way to find out. Bill let out a sigh, shook his head, then knelt down in front of her. The Witch immediately stopped crying as she noticed him.

_Well, here goes nothin', _the veteran thought.

The Witch repeatedly blinked with her wet, glowing eyes, wondering what he was about to do.

"So, uh... what's wrong?" he asked, feeling awkward.

The Witch stared back at him with a confused expression on her face, not responding to his question. Bill went back into his thoughts.

_What type of horseshit is this? _he scolded himself. _Like tryin' to apologize to a damn zombie was a good idea! What frickin' movie had a survivor trying to negotiate with a zombie? None; as far as I can remember._

Despite his thoughts, a moment later, Bill decided to speak to her again.

"If this is about my reaction to when you'd poked my hand with your nails, I just wanna say... sorry," he apologized, still feeling awkward on the fact that he was talking to an infected.

Again, the Witch didn't reply, but her eyes widened as she had a thought. She felt a little better, knowing Bill had the heart to apologize for his reaction. Maybe he realized what she had done to his hand was unintentional. The veteran mistook her silence, though.

_Forget this; it ain't worth it, _he thought, shaking his head as the veteran rose to feet, deciding that he should leave.

Bill could probably get around her, and get inside of the hospital while she sat and cried her head off. He wasn't going to continue to attend her pity party. He turned, then began heading away from her. The Witch turned her head toward him, realizing he was heading straight for the hospital.

Bill probably thought she didn't forgive him, she realized.

The infected woman quickly stood. She had to catch up with him. She knew she may never meet her favorite actor, and his "look-alike" was the closest person she had to him. Once Bill disappears into the building, there's a great chance she'll never see him again.

The Witch raced after him. It wasn't that hard to catch up with him - she runs pretty fast. Bill looked over his shoulder and saw the Witch, who was now a few feet behind him. He immediately looked ahead again as he picked up his speed.

Even then, he wasn't fast enough to get away from her. Next thing the senior knew, the grey female wrapped her arms around his mid-section and had pinned his arms at his sides, giving him a hug from behind. She was also assuring him that he had been forgiven. Bill wasn't thinking about being forgiven, though.

_Dammit! I was hoping she didn't notice, _he thought.

A smile appeared on the Witch's face as she held the old man in her bony arms, realizing he wasn't trying to escape. Little did she realize that Bill was actually trying to think of a way to get rid of her. Bill took another glimpse over his shoulder, and saw her facial expression.

Looking ahead again, he thought, _This Witch sure has some major mood swings. _

His hand had stopped throbbing with pain. He began to wonder what his teammates might have said if they were here with him and saw this weird-acting witch, who still had her bony arms wrapped around him.

"_W-wow. A witch likes Bill? That's... something you don't see every day," Zoey said. _

_She turned away, suddenly covering her mouth with her fist, letting out low chuckles._

_"What the hell is this? A frickin' witch likes Bill? Who'll love his rotten old ass?" Francis asked. "Then again, she's a vampire and he's nearly dead, so it makes sense - in a freaky kind of way."_ _He made a disgusted face. _

_"Well... uh... looks like you have a fan girl, Bill," Louis said, staring at them fearfully. He took a few steps back. _

_Bill turned his head toward Francis, narrowing his eyes at him before turning toward Zoey, then Louis._ _Zoey took a step toward the duo._

_"Well, since she's an infected and very dangerous to the entire group if we let her follow us, I think we should pry the Witch off of Bill, then race inside the hospital," she suggested. _

_Louis moved a little closer to her. Francis shook his head._

_"Nah. She'll try to kill us for taking Bill away from her," he told her. "How about the three of us ditch them and make a run toward the hospital? That way, she won't kill any of us and we can be safe inside of the safe room."_

_Louis and Zoey turned their heads toward Francis upon hearing his suggestion._ _Zoey considered if she should go with Francis' suggestion, when Louis spoke up. _

_"Guys, we can't leave Bill behind! We have to stay together," Louis said. "Remember: we live as a team, we die as a team." _

_Zoey decided that Louis was right. She nodded her head in agreement._ _Francis blinked. _

_"She's got a strong grip on him. How the hell do you think we can free Bill from her?" he demanded. _

_His two teammates exchanged glances, turned back to him, and then shrugged. Suddenly, Bill felt something on his back._

He snapped out of his thoughts as the Witch began nuzzling his back with her nose. Bill shifted in her arms, trying to move his back away from her face. His cheeks slightly turned pink. The infected, meanwhile, was enjoying his presence_._

The veteran decided to try to pull out of her grasp. The Witch, noticing he was trying to pull away, tightened her grip on him, making it harder for him to break free.

Bill grunted, then thought, _How should I get rid of this witch? She got me in a strong grip._

The Witch began breathing on Bill's back, making him uncomfortable. He flinched.

"Let go!" he commanded, struggling to break out of her grasp.

When she heard that, the Witch began letting out low groans.

_I have a bad feeling about this, _he thought as the blood in his cheeks had completely faded.

As Bill moved his lips to form a frown, the cigarette shifted in his mouth. He looked down at it as the Witch's groans continued. Bill suddenly had an idea.

_If I take the cigarette out of my mouth and throw it, then maybe the Witch'll go after it. _

There was one problem with his idea. How could he do that if his arms were pinned at his sides? Bill moved his arms slightly, hoping the Witch wouldn't notice, but when her groans grew louder, he immediately realized that she did. He let out a long sigh, which blew the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Dammit," Bill swore, watching the cigarette fall.

The Witch's groans suddenly stopped. She immediately peered over his shoulder to see what made him swear. The cigarette landed on the pavement, bobbing up and down a few times before coming to a complete stop. The infected female stared down at the pavement when she caught sight of the fallen cigarette.

She knew the war veteran had accidentally dropped it and probably wanted it back. She pulled her head back, let go of his arms, and then hurried around him to pick up the fallen cigarette. Bill, meanwhile, raised his arms, realizing they were free. Staring down at his arms, he now knew because she had freed him, he has the chance to leave.

The old man looked up, and was about to take a step forward, when he noticed the Witch was in front of him. She had stood back up and was holding the cigarette between her fingers. Bill repeatedly blinked.

_And now she can hold the cigarette between her fingers? _He shook his head before taking a step back.

The Witch spun toward him, raising the hand that held the cigarette. She smiled as she extended her arm toward him. Bill looked down at it for a second before snatching the cigarette out of her hand with his bad one. Dumb mistake.

The throbbing pain returned to his hand, and now it was covered with more red marks. To make it worse, his palm had been scratched deep enough to puncture the skin. Bill cried out from the pain, nearly dropping the cigarette. He gazed down at his hand.

His eyes widened when he spotted the crimson liquid streaming down his palm. Some of it washed onto the back of the cigarette. The infected's smile faded, and was replaced with a frown as she noticed his expression. The senior gazed back up.

When the Witch caught his eyes, he narrowed them at her. Suddenly, shouts, shrieks and groans filled the air. A horde! His nightmare was coming true.

Bill had done one of the few things he wanted to avoid - standing in one spot for too long. He began to think about what could he do, when he remembered why he had taken the cigarette back in the first place. The veteran whirled around, lifted his bleeding hand, qnd then threw the cigarette as if he was throwing a pipe bomb or a Molotov. The Witch's glowing eyes widened, watching the cigarette fly off into the distance.

Bill turned back around. His beady eyes widened when he noticed the woman hadn't move from her spot. He stared at her, mouth gaping as she turned back to him. The Witch noticed the surprised expression on his aged face.

_What the hell? She was supposed to go after it, _Bill thought.

Suddenly, the street shook as if an earthquake was taking place. Any moment now, the horde will appear. Bill began to frantically look around the area, thinking of what he can do to escape. The Witch noticed him looking around and wondered what he was looking for.

He stopped looking around as he spotted a few common infected, who were climbing out of the manhole he had climbed out of earlier.

"Shit!" Bill swore under his breath, realizing the horde had arrived sooner than he'd expected.

The zombies lunged at him, their hands balled into tight fists. He immediately removed the handgun from its holster, and then took aim. The Witch knew why the horde had suddenly appeared. They were there to kill Bill, but she wasn't going to allow them to do so.

She quickly moved in front of him, letting out warning groans. Her arms spread out as she shielded the veteran from her oncoming brethren. The other infected ignored her warnings as they continued to charge toward the duo. The Witch's groans grew louder, but that didn't seem to affect the other infected, either.

They continued to charge toward her and the old man behind her. Knowing they were ignoring her warnings, the zombie female decided to attack. She let out a shriek as she lunged at them. Upon reaching them, she slashed them with her nails, killing them in one blow.

Bill watched, amazed on the fact that an infected was protecting him. He was also amazed that she was able to kill the zombies with one blow, even though they easily outnumbered her. It must have taken him a full minute to realize that he could leave, since the female infected was being distracted. He whirled around, then made a dash toward the double glass doors.

Upon reaching them, Bill pushed them open, then entered the hospital. Ahead of him, beyond the reception desk, was a red steel door.

_Safe house! _he thought happily.

Bill hurried over to the opened doorway. Just then, he heard coughing. He turned. A smoker stood on his left, staring back at him with its only eye.

The war veteran raised his handgun, which shook in his hands since one of them ached and bled. The smoker spat out its tongue. Bill managed to aim his weapon at it, then fired once. He missed his target, but his target didn't miss him.

"No, NO, NOOOOOO!" Bill cried as the tongue wrapped around his torso, which caused him dropped his weapon.

He grabbed the tongue, then struggled to free himself from the smoker's grasp as it reeled him in as if it had caught a fish. Before he could reach the smoker, Bill heard a shriek. His eyes widened in horror when he realized what made that shriek.

A second later, a hunter pounced him. The smoker turned, then fled. Bill tried to push the hunter off, calling for help as it dug its inhuman fingers into his flesh. It was no use.

None of his teammates were around, or any other survivors for that matter. Bill shut his eyes in defeat. He knew he wouldn't survive on his own for very long, especially with a lousy pistol.

_Well_, _at least I tried_, he told himself.

The last few things he would ever see were his teammates dying, the smoker that had grabbed him, the hunter that was currently killing him, and that witch... Wait a minute, there was still hope! The Witch could save him. If only she knew that her object of affection was in trouble.

The old man shuddered as he thought about that. Suddenly, the hunter let out a shriek. Bill immediately opened his eyes as the weight of the hunter was lifted, as if someone had shoved it off of him. He looked around, sitting up.

His eyes landed on the hunter's body, which lied beside the safe house's door. Blood was splattered on the wall behind it. The hunter's corpse appeared to have long, deep gashes across its body, as if someone had scratched it.

_But with what_? Bill wondered.

That's when he shifted his eyes and saw the Witch, who was now standing in front of him. Blood dripped off her nails as the emaciated infected stared down at him, her eyes appearing to glow brighter than before. Bill rose to his feet, still staring at her. He felt relieved for being saved, but he was surprised the Witch wasn't upset, even though he tried to leave her.

He decided to thank her for saving him - even if it seemed awkward to do so.

"Uh... Thanks for savin' me," he said as the awkward feeling washed over him again.

The Witch smiled in response, showing off her rotten teeth. More common infected arrived, breaking through the glass doors. That made the duo turn their attention to them. The infected woman lifted her arms, then lunged at them.

The veteran turned back to the red steel door, re-equipping his pistol. He looked around for any other infected. Bill didn't see any, so he hurried over to the door, climbing over the reception desk along the way. A boomer, he didn't realize, was waiting for him in the safe room.

It moaned louder as the survivor came nearer. Once the survivor came into view, and began entering the safe house, the boomer puked on him.

"Ah! God dammit! Son of a bitch!" Bill cried.

He noticed the shape of the boomer through his blurred vision. Bill aimed his pistol at the boomer as it charged at him, then shot the obese zombie once, causing it to explode on him. **BOOM! **The boomer's remaining bile rained down onto him. The explosion caused him to stumble out of the safe room.

Bill immediately realized he'd done another thing he wanted to avoid - being bathed in boomer bile after he'd killed it. He ran into the safe house, then slammed the door shut after entering. The zombies he'd attracted charged toward the door, determined to kill him. The Witch whirled around, noticing the infected were heading in a different direction.

She turned back to the spot where the hunter had pounced Bill. To her horror, he wasn't there. The Witch began looking around for him. She spotted the hunter she'd killed near the safe house's door.

Beside the corpse, the horde was in front of the red steel door, banging on it with their fists. The Witch didn't know why, since the man they were after wasn't in sight. Where did Bill go? Why did he leave her?

There was no real reason why he would do so, since she was protecting him. Maybe something happened to him? The infected looked around frantically, then covered her ears with her arms. She began screaming as she took off running.

The war veteran heard her screams as he leaned on the door, wiping the last traces of bile off his jacket. Once he was finished, Bill took his lighter and another cigarette out of his jacket pocket, then placed the cigarette in his mouth. The screams ceased as he tried lighting the cigarette a few times. Nothing happened.

Bill shook the lighter, then peered inside of it. The lighter was out of fluid. He sighed, before discarding the useless lighter. The lighter hit the floor, clattering before coming to a stop.

Bill ventured deeper into the room. Ahead of him was a table that had an assault rifle, automatic shotgun, and a hunting rifle on it. A red cabinet with a white cross on it was on the wall behind them. The cabinet was closed.

A counter that had a sink, a microwave, a pile of ammunition and plastic cups stacked on it were on Bill's left. Wooden cabinets were above the counter, also closed. The elder was relieved, since he'd finally gotten away from the Witch. However, for some strange reason, he felt sorry for leaving her.

Bill opened the red cabinet, revealing the four first aid kits inside. He took one off the shelf, then immediately began addressing his wounds. The horde of infected kept banging on the door, trying to break it down and enter the room to get at the immune inside. After he finished wrapping up his wound and strapping another red pack onto his back, Bill took his M16 off his back.

He collected more ammo for it, then the war veteran turned back to the violently shaking door.

_Is she really gone? _he asked himself.

Being curious if the Witch had really left and was tired of the horde banging on the door, Bill pushed the door opened... hard. The door slammed into the infected, causing them to stumble back from the impact. Bill immediately opened fire on them. After the last infected's body collapsed, he took a few steps out of the room. He knew if he wandered too far from the safe house, he could lead himself toward danger.

The veteran looked around. The infected woman was nowhere in sight. He suddenly realized why she had left. She didn't know where he was.

_How did she not know I was in here, but the other infected did? _he thought.

Bill's eyes scanned the area one last time before he went back into the safe room. He thought about the infected woman for a moment longer, before deciding to forget about her. Instead, he told himself he should wonder how he could to get to the rooftop alone. He tried to convince himself as long as he had the assault rifle at his side, he'll be alright.

Although, it would have been better for him if he still had his teammates. Bill sat down on the floor to rest, so he can regain his energy. Little did the Vietnam veteran know that the same Witch was now wandering the halls of the hospital, searching for him.

Author's note: This is another story from my ever growing Left 4 dead one shot collection. I can't remember what inspired me to write something like this, but I'm surprise that I went along with the idea. I usually don't write stories like this. I hope you readers enjoyed this chapter/one-shot. Anyway, reviews are appreciated.


	2. Disappearing And Reappearing Act

The Witch stumbled through the corridor, on the verge of tears. Twenty minutes have passed since she went looking for Bill. She seemed to have no luck in finding him. She entered a room, then slumped onto a wall, unable to push herself any further.

There was no use in continuing to search for him. Bill was long gone. The Witch's legs gave out, which caused her to collapsed onto the floor. She looked around, changing her sitting position.

As she expected, the Witch didn't see the war veteran. A sob escaped from her throat as her eyes began to water. She couldn't believe it. The infected woman finally met someone she thought who looked like her favorite actor.

The closest person she had to Sean Connery - and she lost him. Bill had been missing since she fended off the horde. The Witch moaned as the first few tears fell from her eyes. She bowed her head as she began crying.

Her cries echoed throughout the dirty corridor.

Bill had drifted off to sleep, laying on the floor inside of the safe room. Although he was no longer with her, the Witch managed to invade what little dreams the senior had left since the zombie apocalypse had begun. Before falling asleep, Bill told himself he should forget about her. For some reason, however, he couldn't stop thinking about her.

He didn't like her, and yet, the infected woman was on his mind since she ran off twenty minutes earlier. Only after he kept thinking of her, Bill managed to fall asleep only for a few minutes before the sound of someone's voice awakened him. His eyes fluttered open. Through his blurred vision, Bill saw two legs in front of him.

He shifted his eyes. He spotted two more pairs of legs. The veteran wondered if he was seeing things. He pulled himself into a sitting position, rubbing both eyes.

As he did, he heard another voice. This time, it was clear and sounded familiar. Bill repeatedly blinked, lowering his hands as his eyes readjusted to the light. Just then, another person spoke.

"Hey, it looks like the Old Man ain't dead," said the person.

Bill turned toward them. His eyes widened as he realized who stood in front of him.

"Zoey, Louis, Francis!" he cried.

He was surprised to see his teammates in the room with him. Bill remembered them dying, and yet, they were somehow alive with no signs of injuries. He usually would reply to Francis' jokes with a remark, but he was too shocked to say anything else. Louis walked over to the veteran, noticing the shocked expression on his face.

"Bill, are you okay?" he asked.

Bill slowly turned his head toward him. Louis was equipping an assault rifle. A medical pack was strapped onto his back. Zoey was equipping two pistols and had a hunting rifle strapped onto her back.

Francis was equipping an automatic shotgun. He had used the last first aid kit on himself while Bill slept. Bill repeatedly blinked as he stared at his teammates. Louis frowned.

"Are you okay, Bill?" he repeated.

Bill didn't reply.

_Just a few minutes ago, I was alone in this room, _he thought. _I thought they were dead. How did they end up in here?_

Zoey moved closer to Louis.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked.

The Junior Systems Analyst shrugged. The veteran heard her question, and decided he should speak. He didn't want his teammates to think he was losing his mind. Although, he wondered how they magically appeared inside the room, despite the barricade he had on the door.

Bill sighed before speaking.

"I'm fine, Louis," he said, trying to sound reassuring. He grabbed his assault rifle, then rose to his feet. "I'm just a little tired."

Once Bill was on his feet, he looked at his teammates one-by-one. Zoey blinked.

"Guys, don't we have a helicopter to catch?" she asked.

Francis turned around.

"Yeah, we do," he replied, making his way toward the other safe house door.

Bill didn't barricade that one because he was going to use it to enter the hall. The other survivors also turned around. They noticed Francis standing in front of the safe room door. He unlocked the door, then turned back to them.

"Come on, ladies; let's go," he beckoned before opening the door.

As he stepped out the room, Zoey and Louis hurried over to the doorway. The elder hesitated. He began wondering if the Witch was somewhere within the hospital walls.

_She could have left the hospital__,__ and climbed over that barricade back on the road, _Bill reassured himself.

Though, he wasn't so sure about that. The former college student, noticing Bill wasn't following, turned around. Her teammate stood where he was, thinking. She took a step toward him.

"Are you coming, Grandpa?" she asked.

Bill snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing that. He frowned, but didn't reply. Instead, he followed Zoey into the hall. Francis and Louis were shooting common infected as they searched other rooms.

Zoey joined them. Soon, the survivors began traveling through the hospital, trying to find a way to get to the rooftop. During that time, Bill wanted to know how his teammates were resurrected. He was about to ask, but immediately told himself who would answer such a crazy question.

Instead, he, despite what he'd told himself, began wondering where was that witch.

The Witch was sitting on the floor in a room, located in a hallway near an elevator. Tears fell out of her glowing eyes as she moaned. The reflection of her could be seen in one of the salty tears as it fell from her face. The tear crashed onto the ground, exploding into millions of smaller droplets.

The Witch continued to cry. She wiped her face with her arm as she realized that she may never see Bill again. He could be _anywhere_ within the hospital walls, or he could have left the building while she wasn't looking. He could have, somehow, gotten over the barricade.

If so, how come the Witch didn't see him leave? She didn't have any answers for any of her questions. She buried her face in her hands. She didn't care if she scratched her face with her nails.

The infected woman assumed having a scratched up face was not worse than losing her object of affection. She continued to cry for several moments longer. Suddenly, the Witch heard gunfire. She immediately stopped crying.

She lowered her bony arms, listening to the gunfire. A moment later, the gunfire ceased. She repeatedly blinked, wondering who was in the corridor. The Witch suddenly had a thought.

She wasn't sure if this thought was true, but there was a possibility that Bill was in the corridor. The grey female considered if she should go check. After all, whoever is out there might still be around. That is, unless they had already got inside of the elevator.

The Witch stood up, then turned toward the doorway. She suddenly remembered that the elevator made loud noises, which attract a horde of infected. So, that means that the person couldn't have gotten on the elevator. She decided to check if that person was still around.

The Witch made her way toward the doorway. Before she could exit the room, she suddenly heard loud noises. At first, the infected was confused about where it was coming from. When she heard angry shouts from an oncoming horde, she realized the person had called the elevator.

The Witch also realized that the elevator shaft will arrive soon, so she had to hurry. She hurried out the room - just in time to see the horde arrive. She turned toward them as they headed toward her. The hallway shook as if an earthquake was taking place.

The horde of common infected ran pass their brethren as if she wasn't there. She watched as the horde reached the end of the corridor, and then disappear from view when they turned the corner. The Witch was about to follow, when she heard gunfire. For a moment, she was relieved to know that the person - who she was hoping to be Bill - wasn't dead, but then she suddenly realized something.

If she was to follow the other infected toward him, then he may mistake her for one of them and kill her. Even though the infected woman really wanted to know if the veteran was around the corner, she decided to hang back and wait for the elevator shaft to arrive. By that time, the person would focus more on trying to get on the elevator than killing infected.

Meanwhile, the survivors stood near the elevator, shooting and shoving away infected. The walls on either sides of the elevator were nothing more than huge holes. The horde would attack them from different sides: the broken walls, the vent, or from the corridor. Bill's skin had crawled when he and his team heard a witch crying.

Her crying had stopped just before he and his teammates ceased fire the first time. Bill wondered if the witch he'd heard was the same witch from earlier. If so, why had her crying stop? Did the gunfire startled her?

How come she didn't come out and attack?

Bill told himself, _If it's the same witch I saw, then she may only attack if she sees my teammates as threats._

Little did he know that same witch was around the corner. The survivors continued to fight the horde. A boomer emerged from the right wall, letting out a warning moan. Zoey turned toward it upon hearing its moan, only to be covered in its bile.

"Yecch!" she groaned.

Bill and Louis were also covered in the bile. Francis stood near the left wall. He turned his head toward them as the boomer began scratching Louis with its rotten nails.

"BOOMER!" he shouted, firing three shotgun shells into the boomer's stomach.

**BOOM!** Instantly, the infected exploded, splashing its remaining bile onto the biker's teammates. The three survivors stumbled back from the explosion. A moment later, another horde arrived, attracted to the survivors only because they were covered in boomer bile. The three survivors got into a corner, then began blindly shooting.

Francis assisted them from where he stood. His assistance didn't last for long, though. Suddenly, a hunter pounced him, knocking him onto his back. His shotgun flew from his hands, and landed beside him as the infected began digging its nails into his flesh.

"Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" the biker cried, trying to push the hooded infected off.

From somewhere nearby, he heard coughing.

The Witch heard the cries for help, but the voice wasn't familiar to her. She realized that the moment the person let out the first cry. She also heard a female's voice a moment earlier. She was beginning to believe that there was more than one survivor at the elevator.

If so, maybe there was a possibility that Bill was with them. Little did she know how right she was. The Witch wanted to check, but she knew the horde wasn't defeated yet. She kept hearing the gunfire, and the man calling for help.

The infected female didn't know how much longer she could wait. Her patience was beginning to run out. Suddenly, the human's cries for help ceased. The Witch repeatedly blinked.

Did the person die, or was he saved? Before the Witch could try coming up with an answer for that, she heard a noise. She knew where this noise was coming from. The elevator shaft had arrived, and its doors were sliding open.

She knew now it was time to approach the survivors, for if the infected didn't, they were get on the shaft and leave without her ever knowing who they were. A dozen more common infected ran pass her. The Witch didn't care if the survivors mistake her for a threat. She _had_ to know if Bill was with them.

She raised her arms, then spread them out. As she prepared herself to leave, another thought appeared in her mind. The survivors may not want to attack her as long as they could get on the shaft and ride to safety. The Witch decided she would let out shrieks just to warn them.

The infected woman waited for the other infected to disappear from view.

"Elevator's here!" she heard the man, who had been pounced by a hunter, called.

"Get to the elevator!" Bill commanded.

He didn't have to tell Francis that, for he'd already entered the shaft. Louis also had entered the shaft. Their two teammates were shooting the remaining infected in the room. As the last infected dropped dead, Bill and Zoey collected more ammunition from the table in front of the right wall.

Just then, the survivors heard shrieking. They turned back to the corridor just in time to a witch emerge from around the corner, her arms outstretched. Both survivors' eyes widened in horror. Louis stared out the shaft with a mixture of surprised, scared, and confusion on his face as he spotted a witch running toward them.

Francis was also staring out the shaft.

"Who the hell startled the witch?" he demanded.

His friend shrugged. He decided to call out to his other teammates.

"Guys, get inside the shaft... now!"

Bill and Zoey immediately spun around. Both of them began making their way toward the shaft. Little did they know that none of them had kill the smoker. The smoker, loudly coughing, emerged from the left wall.

It noticed only two of the four survivors were running toward the elevator shaft. It didn't know what happened to the other two - and it couldn't care less. The smoker decided to grab one of them.

"Gahhh!" the smoker cried as it spat out its tongue.

The tongue stretched toward the veteran and the former college student just as they were entering the shaft. Zoey didn't know that she was the smoker's target, until its tongue wrapped around her mid-section.

"No, NO, NOOOOO!" she screamed, losing her balance.

She fell backward, dropping her pistols. The smoker began reeling in the young woman as if it had caught a fish. Bill spun around upon hearing his friend's scream. His eyes widened when he not only noticed Zoey being dragged across the floor toward a smoker, but the witch had reached him.

He immediately shifted his blue eyes from Zoey to the emaciated infected. For a brief second, all he saw were her glowing eyes. Bill had forgotten about his two teammates in the shaft behind him. Everything went very fast.

One second he was staring face-to-face with the witch. The next second, he was standing inside the shaft with Louis and Francis, staring at the doors after they slid closed. It took the war veteran a long moment to realize that Francis had pulled him inside of the elevator shaft. It took him another moment to realize that not only they had left Zoey to die, but if he wasn't pulled into the shaft in time, there was no telling what that witch may have done to him.

Bill repeatedly blinked, staring ahead. Francis and Louis stood behind him, waiting for their destination. The elevator shaft was beginning its ascend as the old man slowly turned around. He noticed Francis was whistling while Louis wiped perspiration off his forehead.

He narrowed his eyes at them.

"What the hell was that for?" Bill demanded.

The brawny man stopped whistling, then shifted his eyes toward him.

"Hey, I just saved your ass," he replied calmly. "That witch was about to kill ya."

Bill shook his head.

"Not that. I was asking why the hell did we leave Zoey to die?"

Before Francis could speak, Louis spoke up.

"Zoey? She's still down there?" he asked.

Bill nodded. The younger man's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit!" he cried, becoming frightened.

"Relax. There's still the three of us," Francis told him. "Besides, there was no way we could have saved Zoey when that witch was practically in our faces."

The Witch was _actually _in Bill's face, though. Bill shuddered, realizing that.

"Well, at least we escaped from her," Louis said, a little calmer but still frightened.

Little did they know that the Witch was following them.

As the shaft rose, the Witch pried the elevator doors open. She looked around the area. On one of the walls were long, thick cords. She ran over to them.

Upon reaching them, the infected grabbed the sides of the cords, then began climbing. She started shrieking as she ascended the cords, trying to catch up with the shaft. The shaft was getting farther away from her. The Witch was furious with that man, who had snatched her Bill into the shaft with him.

She believed he, and the other man she'd spotted standing beside him, had kidnapped the veteran. The infected didn't know why, but if those men won't free him, then she will not hesitate to kill them. The Witch was determined to get inside of the shaft, even though, it appeared that she had no chance to catch up with it.

The climb was very long and exhausting, but that didn't matter to her; for infected do not become tired, and she was very infuriated. The Witch kept climbing the cords, until she reached the top of them. By the time she did, the shaft had already arrived at its destination. She hopped off the cords and landed on the top of the shaft without much trouble.

The Witch loudly groaned as she walked over to the square-shaped opening on the roof of the shaft. Upon reaching the opening, she peered down into it. To her surprise, she didn't see Bill or his "kidnappers." She decided to enter the shaft.

The Witch hopped down the hole. She landed on both feet inside the shaft. She looked around the shaft as she stood up. None of the survivors were around.

The elevator doors were open. Blood stained the middle of the shaft's floor. Panic began to build inside of her. The Witch couldn't believe it, but she had lost Bill again.

This time, she knew how he went missing. It seemed to be that when the Witch had her eyes on him, Bill would be there. Once she turned away, Bill will vanish. That's when the Witch came to a conclusion: if she kept on her eyes on Bill, then those kidnappers can't easily take him away.

If only she could find him _again_. She realized she may never see the Vietnam War veteran again. The Witch looked around frantically, then covered her ears with her arms. She began screaming as she took off running, exiting the shaft.

The three remaining survivors thought their path to the safe house was going smoothly - until they ran into a tank.

"TAAANK!" Louis had shouted.

The survivors were shooting and trying to dodge the tank's attacks. There wasn't a lot of the room in the incomplete corridor, so they kept getting hit by the tank's punches. The survivors had a chance to run away from it, until the tank kept throwing rubble at them. They couldn't run away from it now, since they have low health.

To make matters worse, since there were no walls on the left side of the hall, the survivors had to watch where they step or they would fall to their deaths. The tank had used that to its advantage. It had caught up with Louis, the survivor it was after, and punched him. Unfortunately for Louis, he had stood by the edge.

So when the tank had punched him, he went flying off.

"Ahhhhhhh!" he screamed as he flew out of view.

Bill and Francis both stared in horror. They had lost another teammate. The horror of it all was beginning to sink in for the remaining survivors, especially the old man. It was happening all over again; Bill's teammates were dying off, one-by-one.

He knew that the biker was next. Once he was dead, Bill will have to deal with the infected all alone.

_Unless I have that witch with me,_ he thought.

Bill was about to scold himself for thinking about her. A sudden noise snapped him out of his thoughts. It wasn't the tank's roar, Francis' shouts, or the gunfire; it was something else.

It was familiar, but he couldn't make out what it was. Francis backed up as the tank lunged at him. He fired at it as the tank lifted one of its muscular arms. Bill was shooting the enraged infected from behind the biker.

The veteran kept hearing the noise. At first, Bill thought he was imagining the noise getting louder, but when he had ceased fire to reload his assault rifle, he knew it wasn't his imagination. With the area more quiet, he was able to recognize the noise. The noise was actually screams he had heard before.

Bill began shooting more rounds into the tank as Francis was, unintentionally, heading toward the screams. The tank chased after the biker. Suddenly, a witch appeared. Bill watched in confusion as she whiz passed Francis, her ears covered by her arms while screaming.

The biker slightly stumbled back. The brawny infected continued to pursue Francis as if the witch hadn't pass them. A thought struck Bill as the witch approached him.

_The witch followed us?_ he wondered. _I don't believe we'd done anythin' to startle her, unless..._

Another thought struck him.

_This might be __**that**__ witch._

Little did the Vietnam veteran know he was right. At that same moment, the witch had reached him. Bill took a step back, but it was too late. The witch ran into him, causing the veteran to stumble back from the impact.

Bill nearly dropped his M16 as the infected woman tried to push pass him. She ended up pushing him toward an edge. The Witch turned her head toward the person she had run into. Her screams suddenly stopped as her eyes widened when she realized who they were.

She lowered her arms as she realized Bill was standing right in front of her. He stared back at her as he adjusted the weapon in his hands. The Witch stared into his ocean-blue eyes as Francis, meanwhile, was still being chased by the other infected.

He shot the tank a few more times, killing it in the last shot. The muscular infected's corpse fell forward, nearly falling onto the biker. Francis jumped back just as the tank's body made contact with the floor. He stared down at it for a moment before a smile crossed his lips.

"I told you, Bill," he began, looking up. "These damn vampires can't - "

What Francis saw made him trail off. The Witch had wrapped her bony arms around Bill, hugging him. A smile had crossed her lips. The tattooed man stared in disbelief.

It took him a moment to say anything else.

When he did, Francis asked, "What the hell? A witch is _hugging _you, Bill?"

The senior shifted his eyes from the Witch to his teammate. The biker took a few limping steps toward the duo as Bill narrowed his eyes.

"What does it look like?" Bill snapped. "Of course she is huggin' me!"

Francis stopped limping.

"A vampire likes Bill, eh?" he said, more to himself. "I know Bill is _decomposing_, but I didn't know his scent of decay attracts undead chicks!"

"You can't even _spell _decomposing, Francis," the old man said.

The biker blinked.

"So? At least I don't have a witch with her arms wrapped around me," he replied. "The bitch is so damn bony, like a supermodel - but nowhere near as sexy."

The Witch, by this time, was groaning. It was bad enough Francis and Louis - even though he was now dead - had taken the veteran from her. The former had to make it worse by not only insulting her man, but insulting her, too. She turned toward Francis, glaring at him.

Maybe the tattooed man was trying to make the war veteran not like her, the Witch realized. If he convinced Bill enough, he would leave her. She didn't want that to happen, especially since another Sean Connery look-like could be _thousands _of miles, if not _more_, away.

The Witch had to stop Francis. She _had _to shut him up, and she believed what she must do in order to achieve that. The brunet raised his shotgun as a wave of pain spread throughout his body.

"C'mon, Bill. We c-can't hang h-here all day," he winced. "W-we got a fricken chopper t-to catch."

Francis resumed approaching Bill and the Witch. Suddenly, the latter let out a growl. Francis shrank back, startled. He wasn't expecting that.

The infected woman continued to growl as she readied herself to attack. The biker repeatedly blinked, lowering his firearm.

"Do you have a death wish?" he demanded through gritted teeth, his eyes now on his teammate. "Leave that witch alone."

Bill scowled.

"Me? She's pissed off with _you_," he told Francis.

Francis scoffed.

"Whatever," was his reply as he tried approaching them for the third time.

The Witch's growling grew louder as she violently shook her arms. In any moment, she would attack. Francis stopped walking, within a few feet from them. He raised his automatic shotgun again.

"This'll shut her ass up," he muttered, pointing his shotgun at her chest.

Bill's eyes widened when he realized what the biker was about to do.

"Francis, don't!" he yelled.

Too late; Francis had pulled the trigger. Instantly, when the Witch received the shot, she stumbled back. She cried out as she bumped into the veteran, nearly pushing him off the edge. He staggered back, raising his arms, trying to regain his balance.

Francis blinked.

"Bill, what the hell? You were supposed to - "

The Witch's sudden shriek interrupted him. Francis shifted his brown eyes from his teammate to the female infected. She wasn't dead, but now she was enraged.

"AHHHH!" the Witch screamed, lunging at Francis.

The biker immediately began firing his weapon, backing away from the approaching infected. Some of his shots missed her. When the Witch reached him, she slashed his neck. She had enough force in her slash to decapitate Francis.

His severed head went flying as blood gushed out his neck. His body fell forward. Bill had watched the whole scene in pure horror.

His hands shook as he held his assault rifle when he yelled, "I didn't sign up for this shit!"

The Witch looked around, as if she expected someone else to come along before turning back to the remaining survivor. She noticed Bill's skin had paled. She knew he needed comforting. She began heading back to him.

The war veteran's eyes shifted from his teammate's corpse toward his blood dripping off the woman's nails. Bill wanted to move, but it seemed like his legs weighted a ton. The situation had gone from bad to worse. First he had lost his teammates - _twice_ - and now, he was unable to move.

Fear had frozen Bill's brain.

_The Witch has me where she wants me, _he thought miserably.

Author's note: That's the end of the second chapter. Yup, I decided to continue this after two people wanted me to. Sorry for the long wait. I had no internet up, until this past Monday. Tell me what you think and I hope you had enjoyed this chapter.


	3. Confusion And Accusation

Bill stared in horror as the Witch approached him. His eyes darted around the area. The infected stopped walking, standing only a few feet from him. She raised her hand with the bloodied nails.

The old man repeatedly blinked as the infected reached toward his aged face. He opened his mouth to cry out, but no sound came out. He watched as Francis' blood dripped off her over grown, rotten nails. They were inches from his face.

The Witch moaned when she placed her hand on Bill's cheek. He stared at her hand for a moment longer before shifting his eyes toward her face. The infected woman's glowing eyes stared back at him. She didn't mean to frighten him, but that other man had held Bill hostage, and she believed she had no other choice but to kill him.

That's what the Witch thought. Little did she know the man she had killed and his companion were the veteran's teammates, and that they did not kidnap him. Bill shut his eyes as he went into his thoughts.

_God dammit_!_ What the hell can I do?_ he asked himself.

The Witch began affectionately rubbing Bill's cheek and side burn. Some of the biker's blood dripped onto the shoulder of his jacket, which made him shudder.

_There must be somethin' I can do to get out of here, _he thought.

The infected woman, noticing his expression, frowned. Maybe rubbing her man's cheek wasn't the best way to calm him down. She stopped rubbing his cheek, then lowered her arm. Bill opened his eyes, realizing she'd stopped rubbing his face.

He noticed the Witch was reaching her arm toward his. His eyes widened. She grabbed his right hand, careful to not stab it in the process. Bill stared down at her hand for a moment before looking back at her face.

The infected took several steps backward as she held Bill's wrist, moving them away from the edge. The war veteran tried to pull out her grasp. When she let out a growl, he immediately stopped. The Witch tightened her grip on his wrist.

Her grip was, however, more than the elder anticipated. Bill cried out in pain as his wrist let out a loud **SNAP!** The Witch had just broken his wrist. She whirled around upon hearing his wrist break.

Her eyes widened when she noticed the pained expression on his face. Realizing what she had done, the grey female loosened her grip. Bill immediately pulled his arm out of her grasp before examining his wrist.

_Son of a bitch. She broke my wrist! _he thought. _How the hell am I gonna shoot now?_

As Bill stared at his wrist, the Witch began moaning. He shifted his eyes from his wrist to her, narrowing them. The woman had a sad expression her face as she met his gaze. She gestured toward his wrist, moaning louder.

The Witch knew she had hurt Bill again. She will have to be more careful when interacting with him, or she might injure him even further. The infected suddenly remembered something. Back in her previous life, she had seen some romance movies where a man was kissing a woman's arm.

He would start at her hand, and then end at her shoulder. The Witch decided should do that. This was how she was going to apologize to him. She quickly snatched his arm - the one with the broken wrist - then carefully grabbed his fingers.

Bill watched as she raised his hand, and then, with her chapped lips, the Witch kissed it.

_What the hell is she doin'? _he thought.

It took him a moment to realize what she was doing. By then, the infected female had passed his elbow and was working her way to his shoulder.

His eyes widened in surprise.

"Why the hell are you kissing my arm?" the veteran demanded.

The Witch stopped kissing him upon hearing that. She slowly lowered his arm as she looked up. Before she could gesture in response, both of them heard someone call out:

"Anyone around?"

Bill immediately recognized the voice.

"Zoey!" he cried.

The infected let out a surprised gasp, realizing she had heard the voice before. It came from the other woman. She thought that smoker had killed Zoey. It did, but she had, somehow, respawn inside of a Hero's Closet.

The Witch wanted to kill that woman. She believed she was trying to win her Bill's heart so that he would leave her. She looked around, wondering where the other woman's voice was coming from. She didn't know Zoey was in a nearby room.

Zoey tried to push the door open, but failed every time she attempted.

"Hey, is there anyone out there? Get me out of here!" she yelled.

She had no idea that a witch wanted to kill her if she could find her. Bill realized that from the moment the Witch first responded to her calls. At that same moment, the infected realized where the former college student's calls were coming from.

"Please! Can someone let me out?" she called.

Hearing Zoey's voice made the Witch began groaning. Her groans snapped the war veteran out of his thoughts. Bill's eyes widened as she got into her position to attack. He took a step back.

The Witch violently shook her arms as she glared at the senior.

_What the hell is she about to do?_ Bill thought, becoming scared.

She was being aggravated, but by who? When the infected woman spun around, he knew she was about to attack his teammate.

"No, NO!" he yelled.

The Witch was about to confront the woman, but then she remembered if she leaves Bill's side for a moment, then he may vanish. She suddenly had another idea. She turned back to the veteran.

Maybe if both of them confront Zoey, then she may leave her Bill alone. The Witch decided to go with that idea. She beckoned Bill to follow. He hesitated.

Should he follow her? If he doesn't, he could try on his own to warn his friend of the dangerous infected, who appeared to be enamored with him. He then remembered his condition, which will stop him from telling her in time. Suddenly, Bill had another idea.

_I could __**pretend**__ to follow her, _he thought. _When she reaches the closet Zoey is in, I could make a break for it!_

He then realized something.

_If I do that, then I'll be leaving my teammate with that homicidal bitch. It's already bad enough we'd left her behind to be killed by that smoker._

As Bill thought, the Witch stared at him. She wondered if he had seen her beckoned him. She decided to try again. Just like before, he didn't move; he just thoughtfully stared back at her.

The infected repeatedly blinked. He was probably thinking about that woman in the closet, the Witch assumed. She decided not to wait for him to follow. Instead, she grabbed his broken wrist, which instantly made him cry out.

The Witch began heading toward the Hero's Closet, dragging the veteran along. Bill, meanwhile, tried not to make his attempt turn into a struggle as he pulled his arm. He ended up making his broken wrist hurt even more.

"Come on! Get me outta here!" Zoey yelled, banging on the small room's door.

The place was dark and cramp. She wondered if her teammates were out there. If so, how come they didn't free her from the closet? Did they hear her shouts? Zoey gulped as another thought appeared in her mind: _Are they dead?_

The brunette lowered her fists, realizing that thought may be true. She was hoping it wasn't. Someone might still be alive. Zoey sighed, raised her fists, then began to pound on the door again

Suddenly, there were loud footsteps, like someone stomping, groans, and a moan. She repeatedly blinked as she realized she was right; somebody else _was_ alive! Feeling better, Zoey called out again.

A moment later, the Hero's Closet door flew open. The young woman had to shut her eyes from the light. It wasn't a lot of light, but her eyes still had to adjust to it in order for her to see. She decided to thank her savior.

"Thanks," she said.

The person didn't reply. Zoey decided to open her eyes. Her eyes fluttered open. All she could make out were two figures through her blurred vision. She blinked to try to clear her vision.

_Only two of my teammates are still alive?_ she thought. _What happened to the other one?_

Little did she know that only _one_ of teammates were still alive. Zoey raised both hands, then rubbed her eyes. When her vision cleared, she was able to tell who the figures were. What she saw made her gasp.

Bill _and_ a witch stood outside of the Hero's Closet. The Witch glared at the former college student while holding the veteran's wrist. Bill, despite the pain, continued to try to pull out of her grip. Zoey's facial expression was a mixture of fear, confusion, and disbelief as she stared at them.

The Witch raised her free hand, which had blood dripping off of it. She shook her index finger at the other female, pointed at Bill, then herself. Zoey didn't reply. Instead, she just stared.

Bill had watched the Witch make gestures before turning back to Zoey. He decided he should do something, despite being held by the infected beside him.

"Zoey, get out of here!" he mouthed.

The young woman shifted her grey eyes from the infected to her teammate. Her face scrunched up as if she didn't understand what he had said. Bill tried again.

"Zoey, go!"

This time, she appeared to have understood him. There was one problem about what Bill had said, though. How could she run if he and that witch were blocking the only way out of the small room? The former college student opened her mouth to speak.

"H-how? I mean..." Zoey wanted to ask him, but fear made her choke on the words.

Her body began shaking as she stared in horror at the Witch. The Witch had let go of Bill's wrist. She raised and spread out both arms before violently shaking them. Bill grabbed his aching wrist, then turned his head back toward the duo.

The infected female believed the other woman didn't get her message about leaving William alone. She saw her talking to Bill. The Witch was fuming as she readied herself to attack. She tried to hold in the urge to kill.

She didn't want to frighten Bill again - but she thought she had no other choice. The Witch loudly groaned, on the verge to strike. Zoey's skin paled as her legs began wobbling. Her eyes were as big as saucers.

Bill looked around the area, wondering what he could use to distract the infected. The young woman's legs continued to wobble. She feared she was going to collapse, which will make herself an easier target for the Witch. Just as the veteran thought it couldn't get any worse, he heard shouts, shrieks, and groans filled the air.

Another horde had just arrived. He took a step back.

"God dammit!" he shouted.

His shout startled his teammate. She lost her balance, falling backward. That caused the Witch to let out an ear piercing shriek, and to attack. Just as Zoey's back touched the cold, dirty floor, the grey infected had reached her.

Bill's eyes widened in fear.

"Watch out!" he yelled.

The brunette looked up just as the Witch raised her arms, about to attack.

The war veteran knew he had to do something before the crazed infected kills his only living teammate. He removed his assault rifle from his back. He began making his way into the room when the horde arrived. The common infected began attacking him just as the Witch was shredding the other Survivor's stomach with her nails.

The old man spun around, shoved them back, and then fired his weapon, killing them. More arrived as he groaned from the pain he felt in his wrist after shooting. Despite the pain, he killed the infected, then turned in time to see more infected as they arrived. A hunter growled as it followed its brethren.

When the survivor came into view, the hooded creature eyed Bill. The hunter prepared itself, then it leapt. Bill heard its shriek, whirling around in time to see it in midair. It was too late for him to do anything.

The hunter successfully pounced the Vietnam War veteran.

"Get it off of me! Get it off of me!" he cried, trying to push the hooded infected off.

The Witch heard his cries, which caused her to stop attacking Zoey. Her attack left the other woman incapacitated. Her vision was beginning to blur as her attacker stood up, then turned back toward the doorway. The infected's eyes widened when she realized a hunter was killing the veteran.

The horde was also attacking him as he cried for help. The Witch knew Bill needed her help. She realized saving him was more important than killing a woman she accused of trying to take him away from her. She ran out of the room, outstretching her arms as she began shrieking.

Upon reaching them, the infected slashed the hunter off of Bill. For a brief second, as he rose to his feet, all the elder saw was blood dripping of the Witch's nails.

_Zoey!_ he thought, eyes widening.

Bill turned back to the closet. Zoey laid in a pool of her own blood. Her eyes were beginning to close. He knew he had to hurry.

He rushed inside of the room. As the Witch fended off the horde, and despite his condition, Bill reached his teammate in time to save her.

"Let's go, get up! Let's go!" he commanded, reviving her.

Zoey looked around the area as she rose to her feet. Once she was standing, she turned back to her friend.

"Thanks. I owe ya," she said.

Bill turned back to the doorway.

"We don't have time for that," was his reply. "Let's go."

Zoey nodded, then followed as Bill limped out of the closet. His eyes shifted to the Witch. She was currently occupied by the horde. He turned back to Zoey.

"Okay, here's the plan," Bill began. "You run ahead and I'll follow, close behind."

"How could I if I'm injured badly?" Zoey asked.

Bill raised his weapon.

"Don't worry; I'll shoot any bastard who decides to follow us," he told her.

Zoey wasn't so sure, but decided not to argue.

Instead, she asked, "Where am I heading to, anyway?"

Her teammate blinked.

"There's a safe house nearby," he replied. "We just gotta get to it."

She nodded as she turned toward the doorway that lead out of the room. The brunette let out a sigh, then began limping forward. Bill followed, shouting, "Go, go, go!"

The Witch had just finished killing the last three zombies of the horde when she heard his shouts. A surprised expression instantly appeared on her face. When she noticed them leaving, she immediately grew angry. She shrieked as she lunged at them.

The two survivors reached the door, then turned their heads toward the shrieks. Their eyes widened in horror, watching her as she approached them. They quickly exited the room. Bill turned back to the doorway, then grabbed the door knob just as the Witch was a few feet from him.

Just before she could reach him, he slammed the door in her face. He spun around. Zoey stood in front of a big metal cage-like object.

"Don't just stand there; _Move!_" Bill shouted.

The younger survivor hesitated. Suddenly, a dent appeared in the door behind the veteran. He spun back around as his eyes widened.

"GO!" he yelled, terrified.

Zoey nodded, turned around, and then resumed limping. The dent grew bigger as Bill backed away from the door. He spun around, then followed his teammate. They didn't get very far when a hole appeared in the door where the dent used to be.

The Witch stuck her arm through the hole. For the moment, as the two survivors stared at her arm, they began remembering when they'd encountered their first witch. When the hole enlarged, they knew they had to move. Bill and Zoey limped as fast as they could around the incomplete wall toward another hall.

Just when they reached a doorway that lead into the other hall, the survivors heard the Witch's deafening shriek. Both of them whirled around in time to see her emerged from the room. Bill took one hand off the assault rifle, then raised it.

"Zoey, get to the safe house!" he said, motioning for her to enter the hall behind them. "I'll hold her off."

She nodded, then entered the hall. As Zoey began traveling through the corridor, her teammate placed his hand back on his weapon. The Witch continued to approach him. Bill pointed his assault rifle at her.

"Stay back or I'll shoot!" he warned.

The infected didn't slow down. She still wanted to kill Zoey. She thought the other female was trying to manipulate Bill. The Witch had to stop her before Zoey does.

Before Zoey could do that, she must first take her man away, the infected woman believed. As she neared Bill, the Witch noticed his expression. He appeared angry. Was Bill angry with her?

It was most likely, since she wanted to kill his only living teammate. The Witch suddenly realized Zoey had left Bill behind. Maybe she _wasn't _trying to manipulate him after all. If that was true, then why did Zoey wanted Bill in the first place?

The infected didn't know why, and didn't care, since she was now alone with him. The Witch decided to not go after Zoey; not now, at least. She immediately stopped running before she could plow into Bill. Her mood changed as she lowered one arm, while reaching the other toward the veteran.

Before the Witch could check if Bill was okay - even though he wasn't - more common infected arrived. They were followed by a smoker and a boomer. The horde! How did they forget?

Bill knew his wrist will hurt some more if he shoots, so he lowered his M16.

_Maybe the Witch will take care of 'em, _he thought.

He was right. The Witch spun around, then lunged at them. The veteran watched her attack them for a moment. Suddenly, he heard someone call out:

"Come on, everyone in here!"

That's when he knew Zoey had made it to the safe house. He turned back to the corridor, equipping his pistol. He looked around for any other infected. Bill didn't see any, so he went through the hall.

When Bill reached the safe house, Zoey opened the door for him. She had healed herself with a first aid kit, and had another strapped onto her back. She was equipping two pistols.

"Glad you could make it," she said, smiling.

The older survivor didn't return her smile as he limped pass her into the room.

"Close the door before the Witch realizes I'm gone," he commanded.

Zoey slammed the door shut, then turned back to him. Bill limped over to the red cabinet, which only had two first aid kits in it.

"Why didn't that witch kill you?" she blurted.

The young woman didn't mean to say it out loud, but then she wanted to know the answer. Bill was healing himself with a health pack when he'd heard her question.

"Like I'll know!" he snapped.

He immediately calmed down.

"Sorry, it's been a rough night," he sighed. "I couldn't really rest without thinking about those damn bastards roaming 'round."

Zoey blinked.

"So, the Witch was _actually_ holding your wrist?" she asked. "'Cause it sure looked like it."

Bill walked over to a table, which had weapons and ammunition on it. It stood beside the other safe house door. He collected ammo for his M16.

"Yeah," he replied, "but it isn't important, kid. We should be more concern on getting the hell outta here."

Zoey wanted to know why the Witch was holding his wrist, though. Before she could ask, a scream interrupted her. The survivors exchanged glances before rushing over to the red steel door. Upon reaching it, Zoey and Bill peered through the barred window in the door.

They didn't see anyone, but the survivors did hear a few more screams. A moment later, the screams ceased. Bill knew right away the Witch thought he'd disappeared and had left. Was she looking for him?

It was most likely, since the Witch seemed to be _obsessed_ with him. Even though she didn't know him that well - or for very long. The veteran told himself he should forget about that witch, and focus on him and the former college student getting to the roof. Although Bill wanted to get out of the city, he told Zoey they should rest a little before leaving the safe house.

Bill was confused from the moment Francis and Louis magically appeared in the safe house. He became a little more confused when he asked them if they remembered dying, and they just gave him a look as if they didn't understand. He got the same response from Zoey when he asked her. Bill became more confused when a horde attacked them as they made their way through a corridor outside of the safe house.

He wondered how so many infected could fit inside one of the small rooms. He became even _more_ confused when he and his team had contacted the pilot, and they suddenly heard shouts from an oncoming horde.

_Since when does talkin' on a radio creates noises loud enough for the zombies from afar to hear us?_ Bill thought just as the first wave of infected arrived. _I thought a horde only shows up if we stayed in a spot too long, were covered in boomer bile, or had activated something that makes loud noises._

The four survivors fought off the horde, only to have encountered a tank afterwards. No, not one tank but _two_. They didn't attack survivors at the same time, but they had to fight another tank after defeating the second wave of the infected horde. The first tank came after the first horde attack.

The survivors immediately recognized there was a pattern. As they fought the second tank, they wondered: will the helicopter arrived after this tank dies? Despite learning the pattern, Bill was still confused about what was happening. In the process of fighting the second tank, the muscular infected managed to take Francis' life.

When the infected finally died, the three remaining survivors heard helicopter whirring. They looked up into the night sky. News Channel 5 Chopper was flying overhead, heading toward the landing pad. The sound of the 'copter's propellers attracted another horde _and_ a tank.

The survivors hurried over to the vehicle. Louis was the first one to make it to the helicopter. He hopped inside, then turned back to the opened doorway. He beckoned to Bill and Zoey to follow.

The pilot shouted, "Come on, come on! Everyone in the chopper!"

Zoey, ahead of Bill, was several feet from the helicopter. Suddenly, the tank climbed up from the side of the landing pad, nearest to the aircraft. The survivors stopped short as the infected set foot on the landing pad. Louis, behind the Tank, immediately froze with terror.

The horde, meanwhile, were coming from the building with the radio. They were heading toward the two survivors. The two survivors looked around the area, knowing they were being surrounded. The tank reached them, then punched Zoey.

She screamed as she went flying. She crashed into the horde as if they were bowling pins and she was a bowling ball. Bill's eyes widened in horror; he had watched the whole scene. Bill immediately spun around, remembering the brawny zombie behind him.

To his surprise, it ran pass him. The tank was after the brunette female. The war veteran didn't know whether to be relieved or not that it was not after him, especially when he felt a cold hand wrapped around his. Bill turned his head to see a witch holding his hand, giving him a sad gaze.

She didn't want him to leave. He and his team had heard a witch crying when they were traveling through the corridor. At the time, Bill didn't think much of it. He knew this was the same witch from earlier, despite her having the exact same appearance as other witches.

Tears were in her eyes as the Witch held his hand. She can't believe she had lost him again earlier. She believed that woman, who was the tank's target, had something to do with his disappearance this time. She should have killed Zoey when she had the chance, she realized.

As she stared at the veteran, the Witch noticed a helicopter behind him. Was Bill about to leave? She quickly answered the question by thinking Zoey was trying to escape with her man. Who did Zoey think she was?

The Witch didn't want them on that helicopter, but she knew that tank was going to kill Bill after it was finished with Zoey.

Suddenly, the helicopter pilot shouted, "I can't hold it here much longer. Move it!"

Bill knew he had to get to the helicopter. Although he didn't want to leave Zoey to die again, he believed there was no way he could save her. The Witch didn't have a strong grip on his hand, so he was able to break free. As soon as he did, Bill quickly made his way to the helicopter.

A few feet from the vehicle, he dared a glance over his shoulder. Zoey was calling for help, incapacitated. The tank and the horde were beating her to death. Bill also saw the Witch coming after him.

She shrieked as she outstretched her arms toward him, trying to grab the old man as she chased after him. Bill knew she was faster than him, with or without good health, so he had to hurry. He was nearly to the helicopter when he felt one of her nails brushed against his back. He immediately jerked forward.

He decided to dive into the chopper. The senior could see Louis beckoning to him. Bill nodded, then dove toward the helicopter. He made into the chopper, but his legs were hanging out of the doorway.

The young man was going to help him to his feet when the Witch reached them. She wrapped her hands around Bill's black combat boot. She had poked him in the process. Bill turned toward her as his eyes widened, realizing she was trying to pull him out of the aircraft.

He began kicking his leg, trying to break free of her grasp. Louis stared with widened eyes. Tears streamed down the infected woman's face as she began pulling the veteran out of the helicopter. Bill reached out both arms, trying to find something to grab and hold onto.

She managed to pull him a few inches out of the chopper. He turned his head toward his friend, reaching a hand toward him.

"Help me!" he cried.

Louis reached down to grab Bill's hand as he looked out of the helicopter. What he saw behind the infected made him gasp. The other infected had turned their attention to him and Bill. The infected charged toward the helicopter, abandoning Zoey's corpse.

The young man saw a glimpse of her body for only a second before an infected blocked his view of her. His heart loudly throbbed in his chest, threatening to rip through his ribcage.

"Come on, come on! Everyone in the chopper!" the pilot shouted, interrupting the Junior Systems Analyst's thoughts.

Louis gazed back down at Bill. Half of his teammate's torso hung out the 'copter. He tried to grab Louis' ankle, but he was inches out of reach. He gazed up at his friend.

"A little help, please," he said.

Louis reached his hand down to not grab Bill's hand, but to remove his handgun from its holster. He held it in both hands as he pointed his weapon in the elder's direction. Bill's eyes widened like a deer's when its caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

"Just hang on for one more second," Louis said.

Bill opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, he heard a gunshot. The gunshot instantly made him shut his eyes. He wondered if the younger survivor had shot him. If so, why did he?

Did the gunshot kill the senior? Bill didn't know; all he could see was darkness. Suddenly, Bill felt himself being dragged. Who was dragging him?

There was only one way to find out. Bill opened his eyes. All he saw was a dingy, white shirt, and a red tie. That's when Bill realized Louis had pulled him into the helicopter.

It took him another moment to realize Louis had shot the Witch. He explained to the veteran that he only fired her to stun her long enough for him to pull him into the helicopter. The doors had slid closed, and the helicopter was flying away from the abandoned hospital. Bill sat on one of the benches, then gazed out the window.

The rain had slow as the helicopter flew over several buildings. Louis let out a long sigh, sitting back on his bench. He had shut both eyes. Bill ignored him as turned back to the hospital where Francis and Zoey were both slayed.

Mercy Hospital disappeared into the distance as he turned away from the window. He removed the beret from his head, then wiped perspiration off his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket.

_We've won that battle, _Bill thought, _but we didn't win the war; the war between the humans and the infected._

He placed the beret back on his head as he suddenly wondered if the Witch tried to chase after the helicopter, and fell to her doom.

The Witch had given chase, but stopped when she was inches from the edge of the hospital's roof. She had screamed, as she watched the News Channel 5 helicopter fly off into the distance. She felt like bawling, but she told herself she should go find the helicopter on foot, even if it takes _days_ to find it. She began going back the way she'd came.

The Witch wiped her eyes as she ran through the hospital. She believed this wasn't the last time she'll see Bill.

Author's note: Sorry it took me so long to update this story. My computer was acting weird lately, and so it took me a while to get around to update. Hope you had enjoyed this chapter. Oh, and the next chapters (three or five of them, it depends) takes place in the Crash Course campaign, so, it might be a while before I update this again. 

I got Left 4 Dead for the Xbox 360 if you didn't know.


	4. Even More Confusion

The helicopter's propellers whirred loudly as the vehicle flew through the seemly abandoned city. Louis rubbed his blood shot eyes with his dirty fist. He repeatedly blinked, trying to stay awake. The ride had been mostly quiet, until the pilot began coughing unexpectedly and repeatedly.

Louis had asked him if he was okay, but the pilot just waved him off. He became silent afterward. A few minutes went by before Louis decided to speak again, and when he did, it was to his teammate. He looked over to Bill, who had finally lit the cigarette that had been in his mouth for a while.

He dropped the lighter beside him before placing the cigarette between his lips. Bill inhaled deeply before letting out a cloud of smoke from between his lips. Removing the cigarette from his mouth, he let out loud, hoarse coughs. The young man watched him with concerned eyes.

He was going to tell him that, "Years of chain smoking is bad for your health," but when Louis remembered how badly the last discussion had ended, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

_If Bill wants to be stubborn, then so be it. He'll have to deal with the consequences whether he wants to or not,_ he thought.

As if he heard him, the veteran turned his head sharply toward him, narrowing his beady eyes. Louis shook his head as he placed his hand on the empty seat beside him. Bill slowly turned away, his eyes still narrowed. The pilot suddenly let out loud gagging sounds.

His skin had paled as perspiration was beading down his face. He stared out the windshield with glazed eyes and a grim expression on his face.

"Guys, I'm not feeling too well..." the pilot began.

He gagged again, but this time, it sounded like he was about to hurl. He quickly placed his gloved hand on his mouth, trying hold back the vomit that was tickling at his throat. After a moment, the pilot managed to swallow it back down. He panted a few times before continuing.

"I'd gotten bitten... by one of the survivors... on my last street pick-up."

Both survivors' eyes widened in horror, knowing that he will become an infected. It was only a matter of time before he would fully turned into a "zombie," so Bill and Louis would have to take him out before he could make the full transformation. If they do kill him, then they would lose the only person who knew how to properly operate the helicopter, which, in turn, would cause the helicopter to crash. Little did they know, their nightmare was _far_ from over.

Hours had passed since Bill and his "kidnapper" had escaped in the helicopter. The Witch had been searching around for them. So far, she was having no luck. Tears began to fill her eyes as she thought that, this time, she may never see him again.

The Witch looked around. Cars were either piled up in a huge barricade or turned over. Blood dripped off the broken glass of some of the windows. A few corpses laid strewn about.

The storm had ended an hour ago. Most of the clouds departed, which allowed the moonlight to shine down into the darkened city. The infected individuals, mostly common infected, stood around, were sitting on the pavement, or roamed about. None of the individuals were the person the Witch wanted to see.

She continued to wander down the street, walking pass the chaos that surrounded her. The infected woman suddenly stopped walking when she'd spotted a downed helicopter ahead. The vehicle was reduced to nothing more than burning metal. Billow of smoke rose into the night sky.

The Witch wondered if this was the same helicopter she'd seen earlier. Becoming curious, she began to approach the vehicle. As she drew nearer, she noticed a pile of ammunition and two types of weapons; one was a submachine gun and the other was a pump shotgun. The Witch repeatedly blinked as she stared at the weapons.

Were any of these weapons the one Bill was using? The Witch tried to remember. A propeller suddenly fell off the top of the helicopter and broke in half upon contact with the ground. The loud _THUD! _startled her.

When she had calmed down, she began to think what could've happened to her precious elder. Did Bill die in the crash, or, as the Witch was hoping, did he escape? If so, where did he go? There was only one way to find out.

The infected female turned back toward the helicopter. She was wondering if she should check the vehicle and see if his corpse was there. After a moment, she decided to check the helicopter. The Witch took a step toward it.

Suddenly, at the corner of her eye, she spotted a body. She immediately turned her head toward the corpse. The corpse was one of the many common infected, dressed as a police officer. He had a gunshot wound in between his eyes, which had crimson liquid streaming down his grey face.

There was only one object that could have made that wound: a gun. That wasn't the only thing that had caught the Witch's attention. Turning her head, she spotted several more corpses lying about with similar wounds. She blinked, remembering when she was still in that corridor back at the hospital.

The dead bodies were strewn about there in a similar fashion. Though, there were a few corpses in that hall before the survivors had arrived. One of the members of the group was none other than Bill, the man she's currently searching for.

That's when the infected female remembered the weapon he had. Bill had a M16. None of the weapons beside her were his weapon. The Witch turned back to the helicopter for a moment, before looking back at the corpses.

A light breeze blew, blowing a plastic bag pass her. Should the Witch check the burning helicopter to see if the veteran's corpse lied inside or she follow the trail of corpses? She thought about it. A moment later, she made her decision.

Meanwhile, the survivors were searching for a functional vehicle that was big and sturdy enough to plow through any barricades standing in their way as they attempt to escape the city. Also, its tank needed to be fill with gasoline, so they wouldn't have to make a stop at any gas station for a while. So far, the vehicles they'd been seeing were completely totaled. The survivors continued to travel through the city on foot.

They haven't seen another person in a while, at least, a person who wasn't infected. In the last few hours, they encountered hordes of common infected, along with some special infected. The recently killed special infected was a tank, which nearly took out the entire team. The survivors had lost a lot of health and ammunition during the fight, so most of them had switched to their pistols and were limping.

Francis, on the other hand, was still equipping his pump shotgun, but was still hurt from the attack. Besides a few common infected roaming around, which the survivors easily took out, the city had been awfully quiet. The humans didn't know whether to take the silence as being peaceful or not, especially when a loud sob suddenly rang through the air.

It was coming from somewhere in the truck yard they had entered. Bill, having the most health in his team, held his submachine gun with one hand while signaling his teammates to stop walking with the other.

"Y'hear that? That's a witch," he said quietly. "Shut off those lights."

His teammates paused.

_I thought we left her back at Mercy_, Bill thought, crouching. _How did she get here so fast? And how the hell did she __**know**__ where we were heading?_

The war veteran, with both hands now on his weapon, proceeded forward, still crouched. He pointed his submachine gun in every direction as he walked. He was trying to spot the witch, and figure out how he and his team could avoid her. Louis turned to his right.

That's when he spotted a glowing, red form in front of a truck's container.

"WITCH!" he yelled, pointing at the form.

The witch was wiping her face with the back of her hand while loudly sobbing. Bill stood up, then spun around to face the younger survivor, narrowing his eyes at him for being so loud.

"Look!" Zoey pointed. "She's sitting in front of the only path through this truck yard."

Francis turned his head toward her. "What ya mean by that? Can't we just go around her or something?" he asked, a bit confused.

Before Zoey could reply, Louis spoke up.

"Nope. According to how this level was designed and programmed, we can only go through that container," he explained, "unless you wanna glitch through the level, which may cause damage to your copy of _Left 4 Dead_."

His explanation confused the "hell" out of his teammates, especially Bill. Silence immediately fell between the survivors. A few moments went by before a sound, other than the witch's sobbing, filled the air. It was immediately followed by a series of more sounds, which the survivors quickly recognized as angry shouts.

They knew all too well what was coming: a horde!

"INCOMING!" Francis yelled.

The survivors knew they couldn't really take on the horde in their current condition, but the witch was blocking the only other exit, so they couldn't escape. They knew they had only one option left; the survivors had to sacrifice one of their own, so the rest can limp to safety. They didn't have enough time to plan, so they had to decide quickly. As they huddled together, talking among themselves, the horde arrived.

Zoey was the first to notice them. She spun around, pointed at the approaching horde, and then yelled, "Here they come!"

The men turned around in unison. Like in any other horde they'd encountered, there were a hunter, a smoker and a boomer following in suit. Within a moment, the four survivors were surrounded by the citizens that had succumbed to the "Green Flu." All the survivors could do was to shoot, shove, and hope for the best as they took on the horde.

The hunter was determined to break up the small group. It crawled behind a turned over truck, then stopped when it reached the end of the trailer. The hunter watched, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce. From behind another truck, the boomer emerged.

It approached the survivors, letting out a loud groan. Louis, who was the closest survivor to the infected, whirled around. In that same moment, the boomer opened its mouth and let out yellowish-green bile. The entire team got covered in it, which in turn, attracted more infected.

Louis, now shooting blindly, managed to kill the boomer. **BOOM!** The explosion splattered the infected's blood and remaining bile onto the survivors, and caused them to stumbled back. Unfortunately for Zoey, she had bumped into another infected. The infected wasn't part of the horde.

Hearing the familiar female groan, Zoey realized who she had bumped into. As she spun around to try to confirm her thought - although, her eyes were still covered in boomer bile - the witch stood up, preparing to attack. Her eyes filled with rage and hatred for the female in front of her. In that same moment, the three male Survivors knew what was about to happen.

They turned toward the two females. Francis pointed his weapon in the direction where he believed the witch's groans were coming from and yelled, "RUN!"

Before Zoey could move, the witch shrieked, then struck her. The former college student didn't have the chance to let out a scream before the nails sliced through her body. She fell lifelessly to the ground. Her weapon clattered on the pavement beside her.

"Zoey, NO!" Louis cried.

Francis had shoved away the hunter as it tried to pounce him. The witch looked around the yard, terrified, as blood dripped off her nails before covering her ears. She started to run. She didn't get far, for she had run into the biker, which caused him to stumble back.

Francis bumped into the hunter, who'd stumbled back. It then bumped into Louis, who stumbled back and bumped into Bill. The elder stumbled back and bumped into the smoker he was fighting. The smoker stumbled back, bumping into a common infected, which caused a chain reaction of infected bumping into one another.

The witch, meanwhile, ran off, screaming. When the remaining survivors regained their balance, they finished off the horde. Louis glared at Francis as he reloaded his pistol. The brunet didn't notice his teammate's glare.

They were officially out of ammo for their primary weapons. Bill wiped the remaining bile off his face when he noticed Zoey's corpse.

"Aw, Christ; she's dead," he said sadly.

Francis was about to make a remark, when Louis spoke.

"Guys, we can go through this container now." He gestured toward the empty truck container.

The two men began heading toward the container. Bill, on the other hand, stood back. There was one thing that's been tugging at his mind since the boomer attack.

"Guys, where's the witch?" he asked.

Louis stopped walking upon hearing that. Francis ignored them as he exited from the other side of the truck container. The youngest, living survivor turned back to Bill.

"She's gone," he replied. His facial expression changed. "Why do you want to know?"

Bill groaned as he limped toward the container. He didn't reply for a long moment.

"Nothing," he muttered.

They became silent after that. A moment later, the two survivors caught up to Francis, who had found a first aid kit. Just as they expected, he had used it on himself. He also found an automatic shotgun, which he was currently equipping.

Beside the biker were two shotguns. One was another auto shotgun, while the other was his pump shotgun. Both Bill and Louis equipped an auto shotgun. As the survivors continued going through the yard, Bill wondered why the witch didn't notice him.

_I thought I was the one she was after_, he thought, as he and the Junior Systems Analyst trailed behind Francis; he was far ahead of them. _Did she really run away after killing Zoey or is she hiding around?_

Bill didn't know why the witch didn't get him while she still had chance. He was covered in bile, which temporarily blinded him, making it nearly impossible for him to run away from her. As the survivors entered a highway outside of the truck yard, another thought struck him.

_Maybe that wasn't the same witch._ Bill didn't know that his thought was correct and that he was going to see the other witch soon; whether he wanted to or not.

The Witch was thinking about giving up. For a while, all she found were bodies of infected, until recently, where they seemed to have vanished. That was her only trail to finding Bill. Now, she had no way to find him.

Earlier that night, another witch had run pass her. From the glimpse of what she saw of her, the other witch had covered her ears with her arms as she ran. She had let out several screams before disappearing from view. The Witch hoped her fellow brethren hadn't done anything to her Bill.

If she'd left even one scratch on the veteran, the Witch would go look for her, and if she found her, then she would rip her to shreds. Now, she had found herself inside of a truck yard. At first, all the Witch saw were abandoned trucks, but as she went deeper into the yard, she saw something that had given her a little hope. In front of a pile of dead common infected, she saw the corpse of Zoey.

The Witch was pleased to see her dead, remembering how she and Bill fled while she fought off the horde back at the hospital. She forgot that a tank had killed Zoey then. The infected female examined the corpse. Zoey had been slashed by long, claw-like nails, which were very similar to hers.

There was only one person the Witch knew who could have killed her like that: another witch. Did that other witch kill Zoey? This witch didn't have long to think about that. Suddenly, she heard gunshots.

She looked up from the body, eyes widening. Gunshots mean survivors, and survivors mean there was a possibility that Bill was with them, fighting alongside. That is, unless he really did die in the helicopter crash. There was only one way to find out.

She must locate the survivors. The Witch looked around for them, listening out for more gunshots. Sure enough, more gunshots filled the air. The infected realized where the shots were coming from.

She headed in that direction. She immediately picked up her speed. The Witch had to see if Bill was there. If he wasn't there, she'll, at least, know to go look elsewhere. As she reached the highway outside of the truck yard, she noticed a horde of infected.

Some of the infected were climbing over a barb wired fence, which a truck had crashed through that had created a huge hole. The others were climbing on said truck, following the rest into another yard of trucks. The Witch believed they were heading toward the survivors. She didn't realized how right she was.

Three survivors of the four-man group were crouching in front of a bus, shooting and shoving away infected. Francis assisted them from atop of said bus. Bill had rescued Zoey from a Hero's Closet... again. The survivors had found a pile of ammo, four med packs, and better weapons.

Everyone, except for Francis, had healed themselves with the packs. The biker carried the spare pack on his back. He and Louis kept their shotguns, while Bill swapped his out for a M16. Zoey equipped a hunting rifle, though effective when shooting at long range, was probably the worst weapon to have in _any_ zombie apocalypse.

When they had first entered the yard, they didn't find anyone there to rescue them as they expected. The humans did, however, found the right type of vehicle for them to get out of city with. It was a truck. If they were lucky, it'll function normally, and have some gasoline in its tank.

Hopefully, it would be enough to get them out of there. The only problem they were having was the generator, which powered the lift, kept threatening to shut off. It'd shut off once, and Francis almost didn't get it to turn back on. He had gotten attacked by a smoker while he fumbled with the generator.

Despite that, the generator had turned back on, and he was saved from the infected. Before that had happened, the survivors fought the first horde, which was followed by a tank. Although they did much better during the attack, the infected didn't die without leaving a mark on one of the immune.

That immune was in need of first aid, until Francis reluctantly healed them. Now, the survivors were finishing off the remains of the second horde. As the last infected dropped dead, they went back over to the pile of ammo. As they collected more ammo, a thunderous roar pierced the night sky, startling them.

The ground soon shook violently, as if a sink hole was opening up or an earthquake was beginning to happen. The survivors knew all too well what was causing that.

"TANK!" Bill hollered as the muscular infected emerged from behind a vehicle.

The group immediately opened fire on the tank.

The Witch, meanwhile, had been watching them from behind the same bus Francis had stood on earlier. Her eyes widened in horror when she realized Bill was the tank's target. When she had first arrived, she didn't recognize who the survivors were. After watching them fight off the horde and hearing their shouts, she immediately knew who they were.

The eldest of the group was none other than her object of affection, William "Bill" Overbeck. She recognized the other three as his "kidnappers." The Witch thought she had killed the biker, while the female was murdered by the other witch. How did they come back to life?

She didn't know they'd respawn in a Hero's Closet, and had been "rescued" by either Bill, Louis, or one another. When the Witch heard Bill holler, "TANK!" her heart fluttered. It had been a while since she heard his voice, so when she did, it was like music to her ears. Suddenly, the infected female heard a cry of pain.

The cry came from Bill, which was immediately followed by a cheer. The voice sounded awfully familiar to her. The tank; how did she forget? The Witch emerged from her spot.

She knew now it was time to save Bill. The Witch took off, running after the tank.

The war veteran was backing away from the infected, shooting it in its face. It didn't even flinched from the shots.

The creature was gaining on him. Zoey, Louis, and Francis were shooting it from behind, as they gave chase. Suddenly, they heard a shriek. Louis was the first to notice a witch.

His face twisted into confusion. _A witch? I thought she ran off?_ he thought, reloading his shotgun.

Zoey and Francis saw her run pass them at the same time. They blinked in unison. Bill was the last one to notice the witch, and when he saw her, it took his attention off the tank. Bad idea. As the veteran stared at the approaching witch, the tank took this opportunity to attack.

The brawny infected struck him. The elder went flying like a rag doll through the air, letting out a scream. The other survivors' eyes widened in horror. The Witch, on the other hand, was filled with rage.

The tank cheered after sending the veteran flying. Its cheers were cut short when the Witch slashed its back. It let out a loud groan of pain before whirling around. The tank spotted the Witch and the rest of the survivors.

It growled before throwing a punch. The Witch had stepped on a puddle. Her foot slid, which caused her to unintentionally dodge the punch. However, she wasn't able to regain her balance, so she fell, letting out a cry.

The larger infected suddenly lost interest in her. It decided to go after one of the three survivors. It stepped over the Witch, barely missing her head with its foot. She let out a low growl as she rolled over.

As the Witch was standing back up, she heard a loud groan. She turned her head toward the sound. Bill, who had let out the groan, was back on his feet. He immediately began shooting the other infected from a distance.

He then decided to limp toward the tank. The Witch thought Bill shouldn't be fighting the tank in his current condition, but the other infected wasn't going after him anymore, so he should be fine. That is, until a hunter pounced him. The attack incapacitated him, even though it didn't last for long.

Suddenly, the hunter let out a shriek. Bill immediately equipped his pistols as the weight of the infected suddenly lifted. Its body flew lifelessly away. He looked up to see who his savior was.

His blood suddenly went cold as recognized who they were. The Witch stood over him with a wide, toothy grin on her face.

Bill's eyes widened in horror when he realized, _The Witch finally got me. God dammit! How the hell am I supposed to get away now?_

The emaciated female's eyes appeared to glow brighter as she practically drooled on him. Suddenly, a pipe bomb appeared as it hurtled through the air. It collided with her back. The Witch took a stumbling step forward, before whirling around.

She glared down at the pipe bomb, which fell onto the ground behind her. Its light blinked repeatedly as the bomb ticked loudly. Bill's eyes widened in horror, knowing what was about to happen.

"Son of a bit -"

**BOOM! **The explosion caused the Witch to stumble forward. Bill also took damage from the explosion. He narrowed his eyes at the form heading his way. He knew the form was a teammate.

Francis reached his teammate, then kneeled down. He ignored the elder's glare as he helped him to his feet. The Witch, meanwhile, had regained her balance. Her eyes burned with rage as she whirled around.

Francis had given Bill a bottle of pain pills he had found earlier as they headed away from her. That's when the Witch knew the biker had thrown the pipe bomb. He did that to kidnap her Bill again, she realized. Bill had chugged down the entire bottle as Zoey and Louis finished off the tank.

As its body collapsed, the lift had finally lowered the truck to the ground. At that same moment, the survivors heard the many shouts of another horde. It was followed by the roar of another tank. They knew now it was the time to get to that truck.

"Run! Get to the truck!" Francis yelled, pointing at the truck.

Zoey and Louis were already heading there. Unfortunately for Francis and Bill, they had more to worry about than the horde and the tank. A loud, deafening shriek rang through both of their ears. They both spun around in time to see the Witch charged after them.

She was ready to rip Francis to shreds. Bill knew it was too risky for them to stick together now that she was "pissed."

"Let's split up!" he yelled.

The brunet nodded as he somehow gained more speed. He headed in another direction. Bill stopped running, spun around, and then raised his weapon. At first, he thought the Witch was going after his teammate.

However, she kept going straight, heading right toward _him._ To make it worse, when he pulled the trigger, all he heard was a loud **CLICK!**

"Shit," he muttered.

The veteran had run out of ammo. He was about to check to see if he had a spare clip when he noticed the infected was now a few feet away. She raised her arm, then made a quick swinging motion toward him. At the last second, Bill rolled away from her, narrowly dodging the swing.

The Witch let out a frustrated growl as she ran. Bill rose to his feet, then brushed himself off as he headed toward the truck. The infected woman had skid to a complete stop before she could collide with a wall of the garage. She whirled around, her growls growing louder.

The sound of an engine startled her. The Witch turned toward the right. The truck's headlights shone brightly as Francis, who was sitting behind the wheel, began driving the vehicle forward. She knew now she had to get into that truck.

She gave chase. The truck's engine loudly roared as Francis drove the truck through the yard. Bill, Zoey, and Louis were inside the truck's opened trailer. There were two long benches on either wall.

Zoey and Louis moved over to the seats. The former college student let out a sigh of relief as she and the Junior Systems Analyst sat down. They dropped their weapons on the floor beside them. Bill remained standing, pointing his weapon outside of the truck as he looked around for any sudden movements.

When he didn't see any more infected, he slowly lowered his firearm. He let out a long _whoosh_ of air. Suddenly, the Witch emerged from the left, startling him.

"AHHH!" he cried, falling onto his butt.

Bill's assault rifle flew from his hands. It smacked into the left wall, then slid down onto the ground. The Witch was running outside of the trailer, glaring at him. The war veteran's cry had caused his two teammates to jump.

Louis let out a loud gasp when he caught the sight of the infected.

Zoey cried, "WITCH," while pointing at her.

She and Louis simultaneously scooted toward the front of the truck. Bill's heart throbbed loudly in his chest as he watched the Witch grabbed the edge of the trailer with one hand. She then grabbed the other side before hoisting herself into the truck. She rose to her feet, gritting her teeth.

Bill began scooting back as the enraged infected took menacing steps toward him. His eyes darted around the area. He spotted his M16. The weapon was out of arm's length, even if he attempted to grab it.

He turned his head toward his teammates. The duo watched in horror as the Witch bent down, grabbed Bill's shirt and then began to pull him up.

"Shoot her!" he shouted as he turned back to her.

All he saw was her eyes, which glowed like burning embers. Louis and Zoey fumbled around for their weapons. Louis managed to snatch up Zoey's hunting rifle. He stood up, adjusting the firearm in his hands.

Bill felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his head as he stared up at the Witch. She pulled him closer to her. So close that their noses were touching. He wrapped his hands around her wrist, then tried to tug himself free from her grasp.

Louis' hands shook uncontrollably as he took aim. Zoey watched in horror while standing beside him. Francis hummed tunelessly as he drove through the city. He couldn't hear the commotion going on inside of the trailer because the truck's engine was drowning out the sounds.

Otherwise, he would have known what was going on behind him. Suddenly, a hunter leapt toward the windshield, earning itself a girlish scream from the biker. The hunter smacked onto the windshield, creating cracks in it. Francis slammed his foot down _hard_ onto the accelerator.

He meant to hit the brakes. The truck picked up speed. The sudden changed in speed caused the infected to be thrown off the vehicle. The hunter shrieked as its body flew through the air.

Just as Louis pulled the trigger, he jerked forward. The rifle flew from his hands as he fell. Zoey, Bill, and the Witch also jerked toward the opened back of the trailer. The gunshot braised the elder's shoulder.

Bill cried out from the shot as he made contact with the floor. The Witch landed on top of him. A sound escaped her throat as Zoey hit the ground beside Louis. The truck roared down the road, plowing into anything that stood in its way.

A group of infected were roaming around the street, moaning. The sound of the truck angered them. They turned, then lunged at the vehicle with their hands balled into fists. They were determined to kill whoever was operating the truck.

They, however, never did. Instead, they were run over by the massive vehicle. All that was left of them were bloodied limps. The truck was leaving a trail of blood on the road, which could possibly attract more infected.

The Witch pulled her head up. Her hair had fallen into her face. As she brushed the hair away, Louis and Zoey began to move. The former moaned as he sat up.

The latter was looking around the area as she sat up. She noticed Bill laying on his back, his eyes closed tight. He held his shoulder with his hand as blood streamed down the wound. He let out groans as the Witch sat up.

She looked down at him. When she noticed his wound, she gasped loudly. The Witch recognized it was a gunshot wound. She knew that one of his "kidnappers" had shot him.

The Witch turned her head sharply toward his two teammates. Louis crawled around, reaching his hand for any weapon he could use. He immediately turned his head toward the infected as she began letting out low groans. She stood up, her groans growing louder.

The Witch raised her arms, preparing to attack him. The young man let out a silent cry as he scrambled to his feet. Bill sat up, still clutching his shoulder. His eyes opened at the sound of his teammate's cry.

He spun around. When he realized the Witch was going to attack Louis, the veteran reached his free hand into the gun holster on his thigh and pulled out his pistol. Louis began backing away as the Witch approached him. He frantically looked around.

He spotted his shotgun leaning against the bench. The bald man decided to go for it. Before he could make his move, the infected female swung her arm at him. Louis screamed before ducking.

Her arm went through the wall, creating a hole. The Witch let an angry cry as she tried pulling her arm free. Louis, meanwhile, dove onto the bench. He snatched up the shotgun, spun around, then stood.

Louis pointed his shotgun at her head as the Witch finally got her arm free. She whirled around just as he placed his finger on the trigger.

"Boom, headshot!" he cried.

Before Louis could pull the trigger, he was interrupted by the war veteran.

"Wait just a second, Louis," Bill began, back on his feet. He was still holding his bleeding shoulder with one hand as he held the pistol in the other. "...out of all the things you could have said, you chose to say _that_?"

"Uh, yeah," the younger survivor replied meekly. "Haven't you ever played _Counter Strike_? Best damn game ever made!"

The Witch cocked her head to the side, staring at him, confused by his statements. Bill was going to say, "Do I look like the type of person who plays those damn games," when the infected cried out in pain. He immediately whirled around. Zoey was crouched on the ground, pointing her hunting rifle at the Witch as smoke rose from the barrel.

A smile appeared on her face as she lowered her weapon, saying, "Nice shot, huh?"

None of her teammates replied. Instead, the Witch screamed. She quickly whirled around, her arms raised. The smile fell from her face as Zoey noticed the infected's glare.

Francis' heart had returned to its normal beating as he calmed down. His eyes moved over to the speedometer. When he saw the current speed, his eyes nearly bugged out.

"Shit, man! I gotta slow this truck down before we crash!" he hollered.

Francis took his foot off the accelerator. The truck began to slow down. Its tires squealed loudly. Ahead of the truck was a large, thick pile of crashed vehicles.

When the tattooed man caught sight of the vehicles, he screamed. They were going to crash! He swerved the truck to the right, trying to avoid collision. The truck went off the road and onto the grass.

Francis drove through the city's park, crushing picnic tables, knocking over benches and smashing through the playground. The truck exited the park, but not before destroying the men's restroom. The biker finally got the truck back on the road, and was now heading toward the city's limits. He let out a sigh of relief as the truck left the collision in its trail.

The truck was finally cruising at a normal speed. Francis didn't realize how much disruption he had caused, until Zoey poked her head in the area between his and the passenger seats. Her hair was dishelved. Her eyes were more moist than usual as if she was about to cry.

"W-we have to turn back around and help him," she cried. "Our teammate... he.. he.. fell out of the truck!"

Francis continued to stare down the road.

"What the hell are ya talkin' about?" he demanded.

Zoey swallowed hard before continuing. "The Witch.. sh-sh-she was going after me, but he tackled her, then..."

The older survivor turned around in his seat. "A witch? I thought we'd left her ass behind?" he asked, confused.

The brunette shook her head. Francis turned back around. She grabbed his shoulder.

"Please, Francis. You have to help him or he'll..." she trailed off.

Francis shrugged her hand off his shoulder. "We don't have much time. Besides, that's too risky," he said.

Zoey remained silent. Her other teammate sat on one of the benches, his heart pounding in his chest. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a lighter. Apparently, the cigarette had been put out during the attack.

He clicked the lighter on, then lowered his face close enough, so the end of the cigarette would become lit by the flame. When the cigarette was lit, he placed the lighter back into his jacket. As he took a long drag, the younger survivor spun around.

"I don't think that is such a good idea, Bill," she said, her voice becoming more cracked with each word. "W-we already lost Louis; we don't wanna lose you, too!"

Bill ignored her as he removed the cigarette from his lips. He let out a long sigh. Zoey frowned upon realizing that.

_Oh, God, Louis. I can't believe it,_ she thought, tears streaming down her face.

Meanwhile, the Witch and Louis had finally stopped rolling. She had managed to get on top of the Junior System analyst, even though he had tackled her. She didn't know it was him she was laying on. She was finally alone with her Sean Connery look-like, the infected female thought, smiling to herself.

Oh, the things she could do to him were endless. The Witch sat up, her eyes still closed. She imagined Bill's cheeks being big and rosy as he smiled up at her, nervously. When she opened her eyes, she didn't see Bill beneath her.

Instead, she saw Louis' terrified expression. Both of them screamed in unison, but for different reasons. She raised her arms high into the air, then began slashing his abdomen. Louis screamed, trying to push her off.

There was no use. He was too weak to take on the Witch. As the Witch was ripping out his guts, his vision began to blur. His arms dropped to his sides.

His eyes rolled to the back his head. Soon, the young man was the dead. The Witch stood up, then she let out a few loud pants as blood dripped off his nails. Louis' mangled corpse laid in between her legs.

She stared down the road where the truck had rode. Those other humans had escaped with her Bill... again, the Witch thought. Now they may never _bond_. She doesn't even _know_ Connery doppelganger's name.

"AHHHHH!" she screamed.

Author's Note: Sorry for taking_ so _long to update. I didn't know how I was going to bring the story back from the _dead. _Get it? 'Cause this is a Left 4 _Dead_ story and there's zombies... Uh, never mind! 

Yeah, anyway, I was going make this a T-rated story, but after what I'd wrote this chapter, I decided to change it back to an M. So, I hope you like it! And if you didn't, then.. well... I don't know. 

I may just stop updating this story altogether (you may dislike the action toward the end. That scene first appeared in a dream I had recently). Anyway, click the review button **below**.


	5. If You Squint, She's Not Crazy

For the Survivors, getting out of the city was a challenge. They went through a series of obstacles like avoiding road blocks and damaged roads. They also had to avoid the infected, especially Tanks. They didn't take too kindly of vehicles louder than them and would always attack.

The Survivors soon learned that their troubles were far from over. Although they were out of the city, they still had to avoid road blocks, as it seemed they were everywhere. To make it worse, the truck ran out of gas. So now, the Survivors have to continue their trip to safety on foot.

It wouldn't have been so bad, if they were able to keep their primary weapons. They lost them during a Tank attack, when their weapons fell out of the truck. So now, the Survivors were stuck with their pistols. To make it worse, they lost their other pistols during the same attack.

So, each of the immune had one pistol each as they continued down the road. Just as it seemed their luck had run out, the Survivors spotted some firearms. Beside the firearms were four first aid kits and a pile of ammo.

They rushed over to the packs and weapons. As they each equipped a weapon and strapped a pack to their backs, a person appeared behind them. "I heard Riverside held out," said the person. The Survivors spun around upon hearing that to see none other than Louis.

Bill blinked, his face twisting into confusion. As the three Survivors stared at Louis, their healths suddenly replenished, which made their wounds disappear. Bill looked down at his shoulder, noticing his injury was gone. It's as if it was never there.

Bill turned towards his team. His eyes widened when he realized their injuries were gone, too. He blinked as he thought, _How come some areas we get rejuevenated, and others we don't?_

Zoey turned back to Francis and Bill, saying, "Unless someone has a better plan, I say we should head there." Francis scanned the area, taking notice of the crashed and abandoned vehicles. Louis strapped the last pack onto his shoulder, then equipped a weapon.

Everyone except Bill moved forward. "Somethin' ain't right here," he said quietly. Louis looked around. When he noticed someone was missing, he stopped walking.

He turned around to see Bill still standing near the pile of ammo, staring off into the distance. "Bill, are you coming?" Louis asked. Bill blinked away his thoughts. "Huh?" was his reply.

Louis blinked. "I said, are you coming?" he repeated. Bill nodded, raising his weapon. He hurried over to Louis.

The two Survivors then headed toward their teammates. Francis and Zoey were shooting infected on the other side of the broken bridge when Bill and Louis reached the edge. "Shit! The bridge's out. We gotta find another way around," Louis said, peering down the hole.

Bill spotted a ladder ahead. "We gotta climb that ladder," he said, pointing. As they made their way down the hill beside the bridge, the Survivors took out any infected that were there. They finally caught up with Zoey and Francis just as they were entering the tunnel.

As the Survivors headed deeper into the tunnel, Bill suddenly wasn't feeling at ease. "I have a bad feeling about this," he said, reloading his submachine gun. "Stop being so pessimistic," Francis suddenly replied. "We might get lucky this time."

Bill glared at him. "That's what you said last time and look where we ended up." Francis rolled his eyes. A few moments went by before someone else spoke.

"Shit! The tunnel's blocked," Louis called, pointing ahead. In front of him was a large barricade. It blocked off the rest of the tunnel. Zoey turned to the left and spotted a opened doorway.

"Let's go through here," Zoey beckoned, entering the doorway. Her teammates followed. As they descended the stairway, Bill thought he heard crying. He outstretched his arm, preventing Louis and Francis from going any further.

Zoey, who was ahead of them, reached the bottom steps. Francis opened his mouth to protest, but Bill shushed him. He listened out for the cries before turning to his teammates. "Do ya hear that?" he asked.

Louis blinked. "Hear what?" he replied. Bill turned back around, still listening out for the cries. Francis narrowed his eyes. "We don't hear _shit_, Bill. So can you move your arm out of the way?" he demanded, cocking his shotgun.

Bill lowered his arm, but didn't move from his spot. His teammates walked pass, heading the rest of the way down the stairs. After a moment, he gave up. Bill followed Louis and Francis as they entered a room.

Zoey was already inside when they entered. She was shooting a hunter when Bill approached her. The Hunter let out a shriek, then leapt away when she'd stopped his attempt to pounce her. "Zoey, did'ja hear a cry?" Bill asked.

Zoey spun around, beginning to reload. "A cry? As in a _witch's_ cry? No, I haven't heard any," she replied. Just then, both of the Survivors heard a shriek. They spun around in time to see the Hunter soaring through air, heading towards them.

Before they could shoot, the Hunter crashed into Zoey. The impact caused her to stumble back. Blood splashed onto her jacket as the Hunter let out his final shriek. "That's mine!" Francis called, as the corpse slid off Zoey and hit the floor.

Bill and Zoey turned to see the big grin on the biker's face from where he stood. The Survivors soon began searching the area for any supplies. As they searched, Bill realized he may be losing his mind.

_I_ _told myself to forget about her,_ Bill thought. _And yet, here I'm thinking I'd heard some cryin'. Am I going to assume every goddamn witch is __**her**__?_

The Witch has been on his mind ever since they met many hours ago. He didn't know at the time she'll act the way she did. He almost wished she'd kill him instead.

Bill then remembered when he believed he was done for, the Witch saved him from that hunter. She even protected him from a horde. The only thing he told her was, "Thanks," before running off.

_Maybe I've been a little too harsh on her, _Bill thought, shoving away a infected business woman. _Wait, what the hell am I thinkin'? She'd killed Francis, she probably killed Louis and had threatened to kill Zoey!_

The sound of gunfire snapped the veteran out of his thoughts. He turned to the left. Bill noticed the night sky through an opened doorway. He approached the doorway.

When Bill reached the door frame, he began looking around. Some infected were outside and wandered about, not taking notice of his presence. The full moon hung high in the sky, shining brightly.

A light breeze blew, rustling the hair on some of the infected. Beyond the group was a building. It rested on top of a hill. There was a drawing on the wall beside a red steel door.

Bill leaned out to see the drawing better, but not far enough to be noticed. He immediately recognized the drawing was a house with a plus sign in the middle. The drawing indicated that a safe house was nearby. Bill pulled back, then turned around.

"Safe house ahead!" he called. His teammates spun around simultaneously. "We made it!" Louis shouted happily, although none of the Survivors were near it. They regrouped, then exited the building.

As the Survivors made their way to the safe house, Bill wondered did he really hear a witch's cry, or if it was his imagination. He wasn't so sure, especially since a Boomer seemed to appear out of nowhere and exploded on him.

Francis had shot the infected, but Bill didn't know that. The explosion caused him to stumble. "Eww. Oh, shit!" he groaned. A moment later, a horde arrived.

The infected lunged at Bill, their hands balled into fists. They were determined to kill him. Bill began shooting blindly. His teammates joined him, killing and shoving away the infected.

The Survivors huddled, shooting the infected from different directions. However, it didn't stop them from accidentally shooting each other. "Goddammit! Will you knock it off?" Francis cried when a bullet pierced his back.

"You gotta stop that shit, Zoey!" Louis yelled, a moment later. "Ah! Dammit, Bill!" Zoey shouted, after she was shot in the arm. "What the hell are you doing, Francis?" Bill demanded, reloading the last clip into his weapon.

Louis suddenly heard a shriek. His eyes widened in horror when he realized what made that shriek. A second later, a hunter pounced him. "Get it, Get it. Get it off me!" he cried, trying to push it off.

He continued to call for help as it dug its inhuman fingers into his flesh. Zoey had heard his cry and spun around. Raising her weapon, she pointed it in the duo's direction.

After taking aim, the former college student fired. Her first shot missed the special infected, but it clipped Louis in his side. "Zooooey!" he shouted angrily. She ignored his shout as she continued firing the Hunter.

The Hunter let out a shriek as it body flew off the bald male. He immediately rose to his feet. "Thanks for that," Louis said. Zoey smiled as she began reloading her pistol.

After finishing off the horde, the four Survivors ran the rest of the way to the safe house. Louis was the last one to enter the building. He slammed the door shut. He leaned on the door, loudly panting.

Louis wiped sweat from his brow. Meanwhile, despite only losing fifteen percent of his health, Francis healed himself with his first aid kit. After he finished, he strapped another onto his back. Zoey was healing Bill as he collected more ammuntion for his submachine gun.

Before she could finish, the Survivors suddenly froze in their spots. Louis didn't even get the chance to move from the door. "Hell yeah!" Francis cheered before becoming completely motionlessly. Suddenly the words, **We're safe... for now**, appeared in front of them.

Bill tried to move his mouth to speak, but he couldn't. Bill couldn't even change his facial expression. He was as frozen as a statue. _What type of bullshit is this? I can't frigging move or talk!_ he thought, staring at the text.

The Witch was on the verge of tears as she ran through the woods. How does the Witch keep losing Bill? One minute, he's with her, but the next minute, he's gone. A hour passed since she'd managed to get out of the city.

She wasn't so sure where Bill could be. She thought he was surely gone when the helicopter flew away, until she found the crash site, a few hours later. The Witch thought the Survivors weren't going to get out of the city in that truck, but it appeared that they did.

She never found the vehicle, and she doesn't believe that to be good. The truck could be _anywhere_! Tears streamed down her face as she bowed her head. How does he keep vanishing?

Maybe it's those kidnappers, who seemed to appear out of nowhere and snatch him up, the Witch realized. Are they Connery fans, too, and are they jealous of her, because she's a bigger fan? Is that why they keep taking the veteran away from her?

The Witch looked up to see she had entered a trainyard. She looked around the area just as the tears began blurring her vision. With the back of her hand, the Witch wiped away the tears. There was no sign of him or the other Survivors.

The Witch let out a long sigh. Why would the Survivors be in a trainyard? They got their escape vehicle and fled from the city, so there was no reason to be here. Still, there was a possibility that Bill could be here.

There were a few buildings around. The Witch decided she would search them first. She began heading toward the building on her right. Just then, she heard someone shout, "Reloading!"

She immediately stopped in her tracks. That voice.. it sounded so... familiar. The Witch blinked as she stared into the doorway, which was left open. Was that voice of her beloved Bill?

There was only one way to find out. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, the Witch began to approach the doorway. As she drew closer, she heard gunfire. Her heart began to throb in her chest.

The Witch was so sure there was a Survivor inside of the building, but what she wasn't sure if they were Bill or not. When she reached the doorway, the gunfire ceased. She repeatedly blinked, wondering why the Survivor had stop shooting.

Did the person die, or did they kill the infected and decided to cease fire? Before the Witch could try coming up with a possible answer, she heard another voice. "Here, I saved this for you," said the voice.

Her eyes widened in surprise. The Witch was really certain that the second voice came from Bill, because it did come from him. Bill _was_ in the building! Why was he here, though?

Did he escape from his kidnappers? But she heard _two_ voices, not one. Maybe two of them were dead, the Witch thought. Her eyes scanned the area as she entered the building.

Unfortunately for her, all _three_ of Bill's "kidnappers" were still with him. The Witch wandered through the building. Boxes were piled on top of one another. Papers were scattered around the rooms.

A trail of blood lead to a corpse. Flies swarmed around the decaying body as a putrid smell rose from it. The putrid smell tickle her nose, but the Witch ignored it. She ventured deeper into the room.

There was a pistol resting on top of a table. The table was beside the corpse. The Witch noticed the gun and decided to approach it. Have any of the Survivors used this gun?

It was the exact same model of handgun they'd use. As she approached the firearm, the Witch suddenly heard the sound of a door open. Did it lead outside? Whether the door lead them out the building or not, she realized the Survivors were _leaving_.

She knew she had to hurry and catch up with the Survivors. If she didn't, they'll disappear with Bill and she may never see him again. The Witch didn't care if his captors take her as a threat. She _had_ to save Bill.

The Witch got into her attack stance, then charged toward the direction where she heard the door open. Her long hair flew behind her as she ran. If they were afraid of her, then they should leave her Bill alone. Otherwise, she'll feel obligated to kill them.

XXX

Meanwhile, the Survivors were killing infected and searching the trainyard for any useful items. Their main goal was to try to reach the small town of Riverside. So far, they had gone off course, thanks to the barricade inside of that tunnel.

Now, the Survivors were trying to find an alternative route. Zoey winced as a wave of pain washed over her body. The pain pills she was given had relieved some of the pain, but the pills' effect were beginning to wear off. Zoey closed her eyes as she held her side.

A hunter had scratched and pounced her while she and her team were going through some drains. They believed the drains were going to lead them to Riverside. The trainyard had been awfully quiet, despite the handful of infected roaming the area, in which the Survivors took out.

Louis suddenly spotted another building. This building rested on top of a landing. Maybe they could find an exit and, perhaps, a road leading to town? Louis turned back to his team.

"Guys, let's check out that building," he pointed. Zoey opened her eyes at the sound of his voice. Louis' team followed his finger. When they spotted the building, the Survivors decided to go search inside of it.

As they approached the building, Bill suddenly had the feeling that he was being watched. He was, but he didn't know who - or _what _- was watching him. It turned out to be a smoker.

It watched Bill with its only eye. The Smoker hid behind a trailer. It let out a loud cough, but none of the Survivors seemed to notice. Just as Louis was within thirty feet from the stairway, the ground began to shake violently.

The quake was followed by a deafening roar. The Survivors knew all too well what was causing that. "TAAANK!" Francis yelled, opening fire on the infected as it emerged from behind a train trailer. The Tank swung its broad arm at the biker.

Francis backed away, narrowly dodging the punch. His teammates had also open fire on the Tank. They were too distracted by the Tank that none of them noticed the Smoker had crept up behind them.

The Smoker gaped its mouth, then cried, "Gahhh!" Bill suddenly heard a voice from behind and recognized it. He spun around in time to see the Smoker. He didn't have enough time to shoot before its tongue wrapped around him.

"No, NOOOOOO!" Bill screamed, dropping his weapon. His scream was drowned out by the gunfire. Bill grabbed the tongue with both hands as the Smoker dragged him away from his team.

When he reached the special infected, the Smoker began to constrict him. Bill let out cries out of pain as he struggle to free himself from its grasp. He turned his head toward his teammates.

Francis was reloading his shotgun while the Tank heaved a chunk of rubble at him. When the rubble made contact, Francis was knock off his feet. Zoey was shooting the Tank, until she ran out of ammunition in her hunting rifle. As she switched back to her pistols, Louis was shooting the Tank.

"Help!" Bill cried. He was having trouble breathing. The air was being sucked out of him. His teammates still didn't hear him over the Tank's roars.

Bill's vision was beginning to blur. _Goddamit, people! I'm in trouble here!_ he thought. _Are they really going to let me die like this?_ His teammates still didn't seem to know of his absence.

It seemed that he was going to be killed by the Smoker. All hope for him appeared to be lost. Suddenly, Bill heard a shriek. His eyes flew open.

What he saw made his eyes bugged out. A witch was charging toward him, her arms outstretched. Bill began trying to shake harder in the Smoker's grasp. The Smoker believed the witch was here to help him kill the human.

The outcome turned out to be much more different than the infected expected. The Witch ended up killing him. The Smoker exploded, leaving behind a cloud of smoke. Bill collasped onto his knees, coughing.

He grabbed the tongue, then began to remove it from his body. Suddenly, Bill felt arms wrap around him. "What the hell?" he yelled as the Witch bent down and scooped him up. She slumped Bill over her shoulder.

Bill immediately realized what she was doing. She was kidnapping him! "Let go!" he commanded, struggling to break out of the Witch's grasp. The Witch patted his back as if she was trying to burp him before walking.

They were heading further away from his team. Bill, realizing this, decided now it was the time to get their attention. "I need help, people!" he called. Somehow, over the sound of gunfire, Bill's yell managed to catch Francis' attention.

He turned toward the duo while Louis and Zoey were continuing to fight off the Tank. Francis' eyes widened in surprise when he noticed a witch was running off with his teammate. He didn't know why she was doing that, but decided to shoot, anyway.

Francis took aim, then fired. The Witch cried out when the bullets penetrated her arms. Blood began to stream down her hands. The Witch managed not to drop the veteran, despite being shot.

She began to pick up her speed. Francis decided to give chase. He continued to shoot in the duo's direction. One of his shots clipped Bill's arm.

"Jesus H. Christ, Francis!" he shouted angrily. Francis ignored his shout. The Witch reached a wooden fence. She was beginning to think how she was going to climb it without dropping Bill when she heard cocking.

The Witch spun around. Francis slowly approached them, pointing the shotgun in their direction. Bill reached his wounded arm into his gun holster, trying to get his pistol. Francis stopped walking when he reached the duo.

"Drop the old man, or I'll shoot," Francis threatened, gritting his teeth. The Witch narrowed her eyes at him. She began letting out low groans as Bill wrapped his hand around his pistol. Francis narrowed his eyes at the emaciated female.

"I said, drop the old man or I'll shoot your brains out," he repeated, cocking his shotgun. Bill removed the pistol from its holster as the Witch wrapped an arm around him. She tightened her grip on Bill as she raised her other arm.

Her groans grew louder. Francis took a step forward, still pointing his weapon at them. The Witch menacingly shook her free arm, preparing to attack him. Bill managed to turn around, despite being in her tight grip.

"Francis, run!" Bill yelled. Francis blinked. "Huh? Why would I run?" he asked. "The bitch's trying to kidnap you, Bill!"

The Witch continued to groan. "I know that, but she'll kill you again if you shoot," Bill replied. "She killed you back at the hospital and she'll do it again. Besides, I'm the one she's after."

Francis' face suddenly twisted with confusion. "Huh? _Again_? What the hell do you mean by that?" he demanded. Bill looked over to the Witch. Her eyes were filled with rage.

In any moment, she would attack. Bill turned back to Francis. He was about to ask, "You don't remember dying," when a dark form caught his eyes. It let out a loud groan as it appeared behind the biker.

Bill raised his forearm, then took aim as the dark form began scratching Francis' back. He put a few shots into the dark form before it exploded on them. **BOOM! **The dark form was actually a boomer.

The two Survivors were splashed with the Boomer's bile. "Holy shit! That's bad!" Francis spat. Within a moment, a horde of infected would arrive. The Witch took this opportunity to flee with her Bill.

She adjusted the elder in her arms, then climbed the fence. When the Witch reached the top, she spotted the horde. They were running on a road, heading toward the trainyard. By the way they were dressed, it appeared they were citizens from a nearby town.

The Witch decided to try to head for that town. Bill and her can rest inside one of the buildings, until she can locate a safer place for them, she thought. The Witch tightened her grip on Bill some more before hopping off the fence. Bill cried out as he lost his grip on his pistol.

He reached his hand out to grab the weapon, but missed. The pistol landed on the ground behind the fence. Some of the infected lunged at the duo. The Witch slashed her arm at the approaching horde as she began moving forward.

The Witch took them out as she and Bill headed down the road. Bill repeatedly blinked as he thought, _First, we ran out of gas in our truck, then we find the tunnel leading to Riverside blocked, and now I'm being kidnapped by a Witch? How the hell did she find out __**where**__ I was? Does my team even __**know**__ I'm being abducted?_

XXX

The duo had entered an abandoned house in the small town's suburbs. Bill tried to reach for the door knob, but he'd accidentally pushed the door away, causing it to close shut. The room instantly became dark. _Dammit!_ he swore mentally.

Suddenly, Bill was removed from the Witch's shoulder. Bill wasn't expecting that and fell onto his butt. The Witch peered out a window, looking out for any infected citizens. So far, the coast was clear.

She let out a sigh of relief. They were safe... for now, the Witch thought. The veteran finally removed the Smoker's tongue from his body. As he rose to his feet, the Witch turned back around.

A smile appeared on the Witch's face as Bill wiped dirt off his jacket. She can't believe her dream had come true. The things she thought she could do to him can actually happen. The Witch couldn't really believe her luck.

By the way things had been going, it seemed she was _never_ to going to get him. Now here Bill was, standing inside of a dark, abandoned home with her. Silence filled the room as Bill turned his gaze on her. He narrowed his eyes at the Witch.

"Why the hell did you _kidnap_ me?" Bill demanded, breaking the silence. The Witch shrank back, startled by the tone of his voice. She thought he wanted to be saved from that biker, who'd opened fire on them. What about that female Survivor?

Who knows what she would've done to Bill if she was still alive? What about that the third Survivor, who'd fled inside of that helicopter with Bill? He could've did some type of harm on her Bill. Those other humans are bad, the Witch believed.

They didn't save Bill from a few hordes of infected, a smoker or a few hunters like she did. The Witch didn't understand why Bill was mad at her. She thought Bill _liked_ her and wanted to be _rescued_ by her.

As if he read her thoughts, Bill spoke, saying, "Those other humans you kept seeing with me were my _teammates_." Her eyes widened in surprise upon hearing those words. Those humans were his... teammates?

Since when did he have teammates? Those humans weren't with him before, the Witch thought. Bill's probably calling them his "teammates" because those humans had forced him to do so.

"You may not understand what I am telling you, but those people were _helping_ me," Bill continued. "We were trying to get rescued. That is until they'd gotten killed."

Bill then explained to the Witch that the biker and the Junior Systems Analyst she'd killed were two of his three teammates, who'd later appeared in small rooms. His third teammate was the former college student. The same woman the Witch had seen in one of those "Hero's Closets".

When he finished, the silence returned._ I still don't understand how those rooms keep bringing my teammates back from the dead, _Bill thought, shaking his head. The Witch stared at the veteran, wide-eyed. She didn't know whether to believe what he said or not.

He could be lying, but then again, the Witch doesn't know that for sure. Bill let out a sigh. _Why did I even bother? She's a damn witch for crying out loud!_ Bill reminded himself. _Even if she understood what I'd told her, she'll still harm my team._

The Witch took notice of Bill's expression. It appeared he was serious, she thought. So if Bill was telling the truth, then she made their attempt to get rescued even more difficult when she'd attacked his teammates. Her lips began to quiver as tears filled her eyes.

The Witch realized she was doing more harm to Bill, than good, even if her actions didn't directly affect him. Was he better off with his team? The Witch didn't want to believe that. She knew if they come across his team again, then they'll try to kill her.

The Witch didn't know what to believe. She sat down as a sob escaped her throat. She gazed up at Bill, as tears began streaming down her face. The tears fell from her eyes as if rain was falling from the clouds during a storm.

She wrapped her hands around Bill's black combat boot, being careful not to stab him with her nails. She pulled his leg closer to her, which made Bill look down at her. The Witch opened her mouth. "Bah-Bah-eeel," she cried.

Bill's face suddenly twisted into confusion. He couldn't really comprehend what she was saying. "Bah-eeel," she repeated before letting out another sob. The Witch wiped her face with her free hand.

His eyes widened in realization when Bill blurted, "She knows my name!" He meant to say that in his head. The Witch gaped her mouth. So what those other humans had been calling him _was_ his name!

It was actually his _nick_name since his real name was William, but she knew a name of his nonetheless. She was surprised to even _begin_ to pronounce his name.

Bill suddenly realized this Witch, despite her appearance, had managed to hold onto some of her humanity. He knew she was different from any other Witches he'd encountered before, but didn't really know how. Now, Bill thinks he can see it.

_She's a bipolar zombie with a sick obsession over me,_ Bill thought, turning away from her._ That's something I don't expect to be in a romance flick, but who am I to say that hasn't already happened? Heck, some sick-minded authors could've already put that in their stories._

Bill shuddered as he had another thought. _How the hell did she know my name, let alone knew how to pronounce it? What's next, she can form proper sentences and knows how to fire a gun? Something ain't right here, and when I find out what it is, it ain't going to be pretty._

The Witch shook his leg, trying to get his attention. Bill snapped out of his thoughts before lowering his gaze. The Witch's eyes sparkled as she gazed into his. She decided to believe him about those other humans being his teammates and wanted to apologize for killing them.

The Witch assumed they were kidnapping him, because they were armed and seemed to appear out of nowhere. If they were kidnapping him, then why did they let him keep his weapon? The captors usually discard any weapons from their captives. The Witch wondered how she was going to apologize.

She thought about it as Bill, meanwhile, was fumbling in the dark, looking for a light switch. He bumped his hip into a table. "Ow!" he cried, reaching his hands out. The table rocked back and forth a few times before settling down.

Bill placed a hand on his hip when he remembered his flash light. He reached his free hand into his gun holster where he usually kept the flash light when it was not in use. Just as he wrapped his hand around it, Bill heard a sound.

He immediately looked up. The Witch, glowing red, reached her arms toward him. Bill widened his eyes before raising his forearm. As her arms wrapped around him, Bill had accidentally clicked on the light. The light shone brightly in the infected's face.

The Witch let out a gasp of surprise before releasing Bill. She placed her arms in front of her face to shield herself from the light. She stepped back into the darkness. Bill blinked as he continued to point the light in her direction.

"Well, that's _one_ thing that makes her like the other witches," Bill said. "They hate flash lights being pointed at them."

The Witch lowered her arms as she repeatedly blinked. What was Bill thinking when switch on that flash light? He could have blinded her! She noticed Bill still had the light pointing in her direction.

The Witch wanted to apologize, but she can't do it if he's going to have that light on. She decided to take the flash light from him. As her vison readjusted to dark, the Witch began approaching Bill. Bill's eyes widened in horror as he watched.

He began backing up. He took his hand off his hip, then reached down into his gun holster. Bill was trying to locate his other pistol. To his horror, he remembered, _I never went looking for a second pistol!_ Bill's back suddenly made contact a wall.

He raised both hands as the Witch continued to approach him. She suddenly stepped on a object. The Witch gaped her mouth as she tripped. She reached out both arms, trying to find something to grab to prevent from falling.

Bill's eyes grew wider as he realized she was going to fall on him. The next thing that happened surprised both of them. The Witch's lips made contact with his. When her body collided with his, Bill stumbled.

Despite having his back on the wall, Bill lost his balance. The duo collasped into a heap on the floor. They laid, unmoving, for a moment. A light breeze blew, blowing a flier pass the house.

The Witch pulled her head up. Her hair had fallen into her face. As she brushed the hair away, she sat up. The Witch lowered her gaze to the man beneath her.

She expected to see Bill nervously smiling as he blushed just like in her fantasy. Instead, she saw a shocked expression on his face. The Witch blinked repeatedly as they stared at each other. Silence had fallen over them.

XXXX

The three Survivors finally reached the entrance of Riverside. The entrance was blocked, to their misfortunate. As Zoey and Louis were looking around the area, Francis took notice of a sign.

He pointed his flash light at the sign. It read, "**Welcome to Riverside**."_ Riverside? Isn't this the town Louis said had held out?_ Francis thought, remembering what Louis had said earlier

"Bill! Bill, where the hell did you go?" Louis called, pointing his flash light and weapon around as he turned. Zoey pointed her light into an abandoned vehicle. From what she could see, the car was empty. Francis, meanwhile, was checking out how much spare ammunition he had left.

It seemed he didn't care that his other teammate had went missing. Zoey turned away from the vehicle just Francis pulled out a box of shotgun rounds. Before he could open it, Zoey spoke. "What happened after the Boomer exploded on you?"

He was hoping she talking to Louis, but knew he had nothing to do with Bill's abduction. Francis could pin Louis for it all he wants, but it wouldn't change anything. Francis slowly turned toward her.

He narrowed his eyes. "I already told you everything," Francis replied, stuffing the box back into his pocket. "She took off with him just as the frigging horde appeared."

"Who took off with Bill?" Louis asked, coming from behind Zoey. Francis blinked, turning his glare onto Louis. "The frigging Witch! How many times do I have to tell you guys that before you get it through your thick skulls?"

None of his teammates replied. Francis turned away. He stopped turning when he spotted a cemetery. There was a huge hole in the graveyard's wall.

His eyes widened when he took notice of the "safe house" drawing on the graveyard's wall. His eyes followed the arrow into the graveyard and to a church, which stood beyond it. Spotlights shone from the church's tower, swaying back and forth in the night sky.

_Looks like Riverside held out after all_, Francis thought, turning back to his team. "Safe house in that church!" he called. Zoey and Louis spun around. The two Survivors took noticed of the drawing as Francis began navigating through the graveyard.

Zoey and Louis soon followed. As they made their way to the church, Zoey and Louis continued to call out their missing teammate's name. Francis let a low groan. A moment later, the Survivors were inside of the church.

A huge hole was in one of the church's walls. The windows had been boarded up with planks of wood. The ceiling looked like it could cave in. The benches were stacked up on either sides of the room.

Blood stained the floor and walls. A safe house door stood on the right side of the hole. There was a table with ammo and four types of firearms on top of it inside another room. The weapons were an assault rifle, automatic shotgun, pistol and hunting rifle.

After getting more ammunition, the Survivors made their way to the safe house door. "Better safe than sorry. Better safe than sorry," said a voice. It was coming behind the red steel door. Louis' eyes widened.

"Another Survivor? Guys, we should ask him to let us into the room," Louis said, turning towards them. "Maybe he knows where that Witch and Bill went." Zoey blinked, but didn't speak.

Francis' expression was cool and distant, as if he didn't cared what'll happen. He cocked his shotgun as a light breeze blew. Louis turned to Zoey, who replied, "Go ahead."

Louis nodded before turning back to the door. "I can't believe he bit me," the man continued. "I should have never let him in." Little did Louis, Francis and Zoey know that the nightmare was _still_ far from over...

XXXX

Author's note: Sorry to anyone who thought this chapter was a disappointment. I haven't decided if there will be any real romance between Bill and the Witch. If it does happen, I don't want it to seem rushed, or to take forever. I'll still update this story, though, it may take a while. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	6. There's A Kissing Fee

Louis tapped lightly on the door. "No! No one gets in!" shouted the man inside of the church's safe house.

"Sir, please. We're_ not _infected," Louis replied.

The Church Guy grunted as he tightened his grip on the rope. "Not infected? _Not_ infected? Prove it!" he hollered. "Ding dong! Ding dong! Dinner's served! Come and get it!"

The bell chimed as he pulled the rope. The Survivors' eyes widened in horror. Louis and Zoey began looking around for any infected in the oncoming horde.

Francis narrowed his eyes before pointing his finger at the red steel door. "I'm gonna tear that bell down and shove it up your ass!" he threatened.

Zoey's eyes stopped on the huge hole in the wall. Her eyes widened in horror when she spotted a horde of infected. "Oh god. Here they come!" she called.

The horde were in the graveyard. They were making their way to the church, ready to kill the Survivors there. The Church Guy, meanwhile, began to cough as the bell continued to chime.

The Survivors didn't realized the town is probably overrun until now. Louis, Francis and Zoey huddled in a corner, fighting off the horde. A smoker stood outside of a window. It let out a cough as it peered through the broken glass.

Francis backed up toward said window as he began reloading his shotgun. Just as he was placing the fourth shell into the weapon, the Smoker spat out its tongue. Francis'd heard it and spun around.

Before he could shoot, the tongue wrapped around him. "No, No, NO, NOOOOOO!" he screamed.

His teammates immediately spun around. Their eyes widened in horror when they caught sight of the Smoker. Francis was dragged out the window. Before he could reach the Smoker, Francis was pounced by a hunter.

"A hunter's on Francis!" Zoey yelled.

The Smoker, meanwhile, turned, then try to flee, but Louis killed it. He and his teammates coughed. Francis called for help as he tried to push the Hunter off. Zoey fired several shots into the hooded creature before shoving the Hunter off of Francis.

Francis scrambled to his feet as the brunette female finished it off. He looked around. His eyes landed on the Hunter's body, which lied beside the hole in the wall opposite from him. "That one is mine," Zoey mocked playfully.

Francis rolled his brown eyes before a smirk appeared on his face. Louis ignored them as he continued to kill the infected. He ceased fire to reload his M16 as he and his teammates went back to their corner.

XXX

"Get offa me!" Bill snapped, placing his hands on her chest.

He pushed her off, before sitting up. The Witch stared back, startled by his yell as she got into a sitting position. Bill brushed himself off before turning his gaze back to the Witch.

She lowered her gaze as she placed her hands in front of her. One hand was on top of the other. Bill blinked before saying, "Watch where you're going. I could've slammed my head into something and gotten a concussion."

The Witch looked up at the sound of his voice. Wait, he wasn't mad that they kissed? Maybe Bill _does_ like her! The Witch tilted her head to the side as she looked at Bill.

She doesn't know what _con-cusshin_ is, but if it means something bad will happen to Bill's head, then she'll have to prevent it from happening. The Witch doesn't want anything terrible happening to him. Bill removed the beret from his head, revealing the short, silver hair.

The Witch watched as Bill placed a hand on the back of his head, while he picked up the flash light with the other. He removed the hand from the back of his head, then placed it in front of the ray of light. To his luck, there was no blood on his hand.

Bill let out a sigh of relief as he lowered his hand from the light. "Bah-eel?" the Witch suddenly called.

The veteran immediately turned toward her, pointing his flashlight ahead of himself. When the light made contact with her face, the Witch let out a cry, closing her eyes before shranking back. When she was sure she'd gotten out of the light, the Witch opened her eyes.

She narrowed her eyes as Bill lowered the light. "Sorry," he said quietly.

She let a low groan, but was glad that Bill had apologized for nearly blinding her. Bill turned back to his beret. He grabbed it and was about to place it back on his head. Suddenly, Bill felt her bony arms wrapped around him

Bill immediately turned his head. The Witch had a smile on her face as her eyes seemed to glow brighter. He shifted in her arms, causing the Witch to relax her grip. Bill began wondering why she was so obsessed with him.

Was because of his looks? His leadership skills? His ability to handle firearms? Bill had learned those skills during his years in the service.

As he thought, the Witch stared at him. She wondered what he was thinking about. Was he thinking about _her_? The Witch hoped so.

She decided to get his attention again. The Witch reached her hand towards his. She managed to grab his hand without stabbing it. Bill snapped out of his thoughts as she placed his hand on her thigh.

She then placed her other hand on top of his. "Bah-eel," the Witch started.

She raised a hand, then pointed a finger at her eye. The Witch lowered her hand, then pointed at her chest. Her finger nail barely missed her chest. She then pointed at Bill, all the while, moving her lips.

The only sounds that came out of her mouth were moans. Bill's face twisted into confusion after she finished. The Witch began rubbing his hand as she waited for his response.

Bill didn't reply, so the Witch leaned a little closer to him. Bill snapped out of his thoughts before gazing into her eyes. He didn't bother to remove his hand from her thigh. The Witch blinked, wondering if he understood what she'd gestured to him.

Bill picked up the beret with his other hand and finally placed it back on his head. The Witch decided to try again. She did the same gestures again, but when she pointed at Bill, she said his name. Bill remained silent as he removed his hand from her thigh and stood up.

The Witch blinked as she rose to her feet. _What is she trying to tell me? That she __**loves**__ me?_ Bill thought as he tightened his grip on his flashlight.

Little did Bill know that the Witch _is_ trying to tell him that she loves him. The Witch frowned as she realized Bill didn't understand her. If he knew, then maybe he wouldn't be so harsh on her?

She wondered if he wanted to be loved. If so, then the Witch will give Bill all the love she can provide. The Witch reached out and grabbed his arm.

A sound escaped Bill's throat as he lowered his gaze. A smile crossed her lips as the Witch pulled him closer. Their faces were so close that their noses were touching.

His heart began to beat a little faster. "W-what are you going to do?" Bill asked, raising his arms.

The Witch didn't reply. If she can't tell him she loves him, then she'll _show_ him. The next thing she did surprised the war veteran.

The Witch leaned on him as she pulled him into a romantic kiss. She wrapped her arms around him, pinning his arms at his sides. Bill's eyes widened in surprise as he stumbled.

He managed to regain his balance, but had lost the grip on his flashlight. It fell from his hand. When it made contact with the floor, the flash light clattered. The light flickered, threatening to shut off.

Bill slowly lowered his arms, but still stared at the infected with wide eyes. Before he knew it, they'd departed. Bill straightened up, his eyes appearing to bug out of his head. His face was blank, but was having mixed feelings about the kiss.

Bill blinked repeatedly. A smile crossed her lips before the Witch shyly turned away. The kiss may have been short but the Witch had enjoyed every second of it. She didn't know what Bill was thinking.

Was he mad that she kissed him? The Witch wished Bill would tell her how he felt. _She __**kissed**__ me,_ was all he thought about as he stared back at her.

XXX

The three Survivors had been going through the seemedly abandoned town, still searching for Bill. Francis wasn't really helping. He just wanted to get to the river and steal a boat. The Survivors would search any the buildings they could gain access to collect useful items and to, hopefully, locate their missing teammate.

"God dammit, Francis. Why didn't you stop her?" Louis asked suddenly as they stood in a parking lot.

Zoey had exited a building after discovering the only useful items there were ammunition. Louis and Francis had already searched that building. Francis ignored Louis' question as he turned around.

There were a few infected wandering in front of some houses. Most of houses were boarded up. One house, however, wasn't boarded.

One of the windows were opened, allowing the cool air to enter the house. Francis decided to check the house for supplies. As he made his way to the house, Louis, demanding an answer from his teammate, followed.

As they approached the house, the infected indiviuals heard their footsteps and snapped their heads toward the duo. They immediately became enraged. The infected charged at the duo.

Before they could reach the Survivors, Zoey took them out with her hunting rifle. Louis and Francis turned back to see the large smile on the youth's face. "You're welcome," she said, lowering her rifle.

The men opened their mouths to reply, but were interrupted by a sound. They immediately turned toward the sound. Whoever made that sound was heading their way.

XXX

Bill, who'd been snapped out of his thoughts, went over to a window. He peered out. He was trying to see if he could spot any of his teammates or anyone else for that matter. He had heard two gunshots that sounded awfully familiar.

It sounded like those shots came from a sniper rifle. Bill wondered who fired those shots and why. He didn't have long to think about that. Suddenly, shouts, shrieks and groans filled the night air.

A horde! "Son of a bitch!" Bill hollered, spinning around.

He knew he couldn't take on the horde, since he doesn't have firearms. _How can I protect myself?_ Bill thought.

His eyes scanned the room, looking for something he could use. His eyes landed on the flashlight he'd dropped earlier. Maybe Bill could use it as a weapon. Just then, he had another thought.

The Witch could protect him. Bill turned back to her. She was examining him from head-to-toe with her eyes. "Witch, I have an idea," Bill said, as he went to retrieve his flashlight.

The Witch blinked as she turned her gaze back to his face. Does _everyone_ in his team address her as "Witch?" She remembered the biker calling her that more than once. The former college student also called her that.

The third Survivor didn't seem to call her anything, the Witch thought. Whether they called her that or not, she didn't like the nickname. "If you fend off the horde, then we can find my team and, if I can convince them, you'll be able to tag along," Bill explained, cutting into her thoughts.

Her eyes widened as she gaped her mouth. Bill wants her to _join_ his team after the Witch killed them? For all she knew, Bill could be _lying_ to her. Suddenly, Bill heard the window shattered.

He whirled around - just in time to see three infected citizens began climbing through the window. "Shit!" Bill swore under his breath, picking up his flashlight.

He turned back to the Witch with a terrified expression on his face. The trio had entered the house. The zombies lunged at Bill, their hands balled into tight fists.

The Witch's eyes widened when she took notice of them. She quickly moved in front of Bill, who'd turned back to the infected. The trio finally reached them.

The Witch slashed them with her nails, killing them in one blow. Bill watched, pointing his flashlight at the window. _I'm surprised my light ain't affecting her performance_, he thought.

A moment later, more infected entered through the window. The horde would attack the duo from different sides: the broken window, the front entry, or from a hole in the left wall that had been created during the attack. Just like before, a hunter, smoker and boomer chose Bill to be their target.

It was a little harder for Bill to fight them off, since he was completely weaponless. The flashlight didn't provide him much protection. A boomer emerged from the front entry.

Bill whirled around as it approached him. He rose his forearm, then struck the Boomer's chest. The Boomer let out a groan as it stumbled back. The Witch turned around at the sound of the other infected's voice.

She raised her forearm, then lunged at the Boomer. Bill backed up as the Boomer regained its balance. The Boomer let out another groan as it charged at the veteran. Bill kept backing away as the infected raised his stubby arms.

Bill's back suddenly made contact with a wall. He raised his forearm as the Boomer reached him. The Boomer let out one last groan before gaping its mouth. Bill was preparing to strike the infected.

Suddenly, he saw something at the corner of his eye. Bill quickly shifted his eyes. What he saw made him gasp. The Witch, standing beside the Boomer, had her arm raised, ready to attack it. Bill opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

Before he knew it, the female infected had struck the Boomer, causing it to explode on them. Both of them stumbled. Bill was covered with Boomer bile, but the Witch managed not to be splashed by any of it. Within a moment, more common infected appeared.

The Witch stepped in front of the veteran, then attacked the infected when they reached them. A smoker suddenly appeared, letting out a cough. Bill immediately turned toward the Smoker at the sound of its cough.

The Smoker spat out its tongue. Bill was able to make out the form of the Smoker as the bile was evaporating off his face. He didn't have enough time to react as the Smoker's tongue wrapped around him.

Bill began making choking sounds as he dropped his flashlight. He grabbed the tongue, then struggled to free himself from the Smoker's grasp as it dragged him toward it. Before he could reach the Smoker, Bill heard a shriek. His eyes widened in horror when he realized that a hunter was nearby.

Bill turned in time spun to see the Hunter soaring through air, heading toward him. Before He could react, the Hunter crashed into the Smoker. The impact caused the Smoker to stumble back, loosening his grip on the elder. Blood had splashed onto the Smoker just as the Hunter let out its final shriek.

Bill broke away just as the Witch lunged at the Smoker. In a few slashes, the Smoker was dead. Bill blinked a few times before shifting his eyes toward his savior. The Witch looked at him as blood dripped off her nails.

Bill felt relieved for being saved, but wondered why the infected was still willingly to protect him, even though he'd left her a few times before. "You didn't have to do that," he said, standing up straight.

The Witch smiled in reply. Soon, more common infected arrived. As the fight went on, Bill suddenly thought he heard more gunfire. He tried to listen out for the gunfire, but the groans from the horde and the Witch's shreeching were drowning out any other sounds.

Bill moved away from the Witch as he continued to listen out for the gunfire. He went over to another window, which had been broken during the attack. Bill peered out, being careful of the remaining glass shards in the frame.

He looked around. The war veteran didn't see anything. Bill blinked as he thought, _I could've sworn I'd heard gunfire. I know I ain't crazy. My teammates should've arrived here by now._

Suddenly, Bill felt arms wrap around him._ Bull-fricking-horseshit! _he yelled mentally, thinking he was being grabbed by another smoker.

Little did he realized that the Witch'd grabbed him, then picked him up. She held him bridal style. Bill wondered where the Witch was going to take him as she spun around and took off.

The Witch pressed him tightly into her chest as she picked up her speed. The Witch realized this house was no longer safe. She would have to locate a safer place for them.

The emaciated female headed for the back of the house. The horde's remainder gave chase. Bill tried to watch, but she kept moving. That's when he realized he had left his flashlight.

_God dammit! That was the only weapon I had left!_ Bill thought, looking down at his gun holster. _Now I can't see and this house is frickin' pitch black!_

XXX

Most of the horde had run pass the Survivors as if they weren't there. The trio turned toward the direction where the horde had been heading to. The citizens were entering the house through the front door or windows. It was the same house Francis was about to search.

Some of the infected had broke away from the horde and decided to attack the Survivors. The Survivors took them out before turning back to the house. Why was the horde going into that house? Do they even know the Survivors _aren't_ in that house?

Something was attracting them to that house and none of them knew why. There was only way to find out. Louis lead the small group toward the house, shooting any infected that stood in their way.

When they reached the house, Zoey and Francis entered it through one of the broken windows. Louis entered through the front entry. They scanned the room with their flashlights. Zoey was the first to notice the lone flashlight.

She went over to it. The brunette crouched down, lowering her pistols. "Come on, Zoey. We gotta go," Louis called.

She turned toward him as she snatched up the flash light. Louis and Francis stood in the hallway. The biker was smacking an infected plumber with the side of his shotgun. The man's skull let out a loud _CRACK_ as his brain splattered onto a nearby wall.

As the body slid down, Zoey approached her teammates. "Hey, boys. Look what I found," Zoey said, raising the flashlight.

Both men looked down at it. They both blinked in unison before exchanging glances. "Who could have left their light behind?" the Junior Systems Analyst asked.

Zoey lowered the light before shrugging. Louis turned to Francis. "Maybe whoever had it was attacked," Zoey guessed, examining it. "The light still works and I don't see any visible scratches on it."

"Then where's the body?" Francis asked, pointing his light back into the front room.

Zoey and Louis exchanged glances. Francis was right. Where was the body? If someone had gotten attacked, their corpse will be near the flashlight.

Maybe they were lucky and had the chance to get away? Francis turned back around, lowering his light. "That could be Bill's flashlight," Louis guessed, cutting into the biker's thoughts. "After all, the town hadn't held out and we haven't seen or heard from anyone since the church incident."

Zoey's eyes lightened up. "You're right, Louis," she said, looking down at it. "It looks very identical to ours and I haven't seen any other flashlights around here."

Zoey began to wonder why their absent teammate would discard his flashlight. "That Witch's probably making out with him," Francis said, cutting into her thoughts.

She and Louis turned toward him. Zoey narrowed her eyes at him as Francis smirked. "Or she could have ripped him to shreds," he added.

"Then why she did kidnap him?" Zoey questioned. "She could have easily killed him during the Tank attack."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of a door slam. The Survivors turned toward the sound. "It sounded like it came from the back of the house," Francis said, pointing his finger through the hall.

Zoey raised her pistols before making her way toward the back room. Francis followed, close behind. Louis, on the hand, hesitated. He didn't want to believe whoever had slammed the door was not a Survivor.

Although, he couldn't shake the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. _It could have been the wind,_ Louis thought, trying to calm himself down.

For all they knew, there could be a special infected behind the door, waiting to strike. Zoey noticed Louis wasn't following and turned around. He stood where he was, thinking. Zoey took a step toward him.

"Louis, come on. It's this way" she beckoned.

Louis frowned, but didn't reply as he made his way toward Zoey. The two Survivors then hurried over to their teammate. Francis had opened the back door when they reached him.

He stepped through the doorway, raising his shotgun. Louis and Zoey followed, after the latter lightly pushed the former toward and out the door. Francis scanned the area as he travel along a barb wired fence. There was hardly a backyard.

The fence lied a few feet in front of them. The trio searched the yard and even ventured into the neighboring yard. They were looking for whoever had escaped through the back door. For all the Survivors knew, they could be wasting their time.

XXX

The door slammed shut after Bill entered the shed. He placed his hands on his knees as he bent over. Bill began to pant as the Witch made her way to him. She placed her hand on Bill's shoulder as perspiration beaded down his face.

After a moment of panting, his heart's rapid beating began to slow to normal. Bill gazed up as the Witch moved her hand from his shoulder. She reached her hand toward his face. Bill stared at her hand for a moment before shifting his eyes toward her face.

A smile crossed her lips as the Witch gazed into the veteran's ocean blue eyes. She placed her hand on his face and began to caress his cheek. Bill raised his arm, then wrapped his hand around her wrist. The Witch blinked.

She was surprised Bill hadn't reject her caress. Maybe it's because she's imagining this? A moment later, the Witch lowered her arm. Bill straightened up, then wiped the sweat from his brows with the sleeve of his jacket.

Just to be sure they were safe, the Witch went over to a window. As she peered out, Bill ventured deeper into the room. There was a small, round table in the middle of the room. Two dirty counters lied beyond the table.

A bottle of pills and a first aid kit lied on the counters. Blood stained papers laid disarray on the dengy and stained carpet. Bill went over to the medical supplies. As he pocketed the pills, the Witch turned back around.

She was sure there was other infected area, even though she didn't see anyone when she'd peered out the window. The Witch spotted another window near Bill. She went over to it as Bill picked up the med kit. He had gotten injured during his trip to the shed, which is the same place they're currently staying in.

Bill began to heal himself as the Witch peered out the window. She looked around the area. From what she could see, the coast was clear. The Witch let out a sigh of relief.

The duo was safe... for now. She turned back to Bill as he finished healing himself. The Witch was still wondering if Bill loves her. He hadn't rejected her recent affectionated actions toward him. She wished she knew how to ask him, but she doesn't know if she could say anything other than his name.

She decided to try to ask, despite her lack of communication. The Witch reached out and grabbed his hand. Bill turned his head toward her. "Bah-eel, d-do..." she began.

Bill's face twisted into confusion as the Witch struggled to speak. "D-do... Bah-eel... luhh..." she trailed off.

Bill blinked as he stared at her in bewilderment. _What the hell is she trying to say?_ he thought.

The Witch went into her thoughts. Should she finish her sentence? Should the Witch tell Bill she loves him? Yes, she should!

If the Witch doesn't tell him now, then she may never get another chance. She pulled him closer as her glowing eyes gazed into his ocean blue. "D-do Bah-eel luhh W-W-ich?" the Witch asked, although she disliked the nickname.

Bill narrowed his eyes when she'd said "luhh." The Witch blinked as she waited for a response. "What the hell is 'luhh?'" the veteran asked suddenly.

The female infected gasped in surprise. Bill doesn't know anything about _love_? That can't be true. Maybe no one has loved him in such a long time, the Witch thought.

She turned back to him. "Do Bah-eel luhh Wich?" the Witch repeated.

It was within that moment when Bill finally realized what she saying. She was asking him if he loved her. Bill gaped his mouth.

_Why the hell is she asking me if I love her?_ Bill asked himself mentally. _Is it because of those kisses we shared? The first one happened because she didn't watch where she was heading!_

The Witch had widened her eyes as she waited for his reply. She raised his hand to her mouth, then kissed it. Bill watched as the Witch lowered his hand, then flashed him a big smile, showing off her rotten teeth.

Bill's feelings toward the infected were confusing him. _If I really cared about her, then wouldn't I __**stay**__ with her and not leave when given the opportunity? _Bill thought, shaking his head._ She had been very helpful, though. I just don't know what to believe now._

Bill shivered as a light breeze blew into the place through one of the opened windows. The Witch frowned, thinking Bill doesn't love her. _Maybe I'm losing my mind, _the veteran thought, letting out a sigh. _She wants an answer, so here goes nothin'._

XXX

Twenty minutes later, the three Survivors arrived at a boathouse. As they entered the house, the trio noticed a radio. The radio lied silently on top of one of the four counters. A first aid cabinet was on a wall beside the counters.

The cabinet was closed. There were two sinks and a pile of ammunition on top of the other three counters. A window boarded with planks stood above the counters. As the Survivors searched the room, they spotted two crates beside the front entry.

On the crates were an assault rifle, automatic shotgun, and a pistol. They collected more ammo and healed each other with the first aid kits. The trio also searched the house. All they found were pipe bombs and cocktail molotovs.

The explosives were located on a table on the second floor and on a few crates located on the balcony. Zoey and Francis strapped one pipe bomb onto their thighs, while Louis decided to get a molotov. There was also a turret on the balcony. "Big ass gun here," Louis commented as he took notice of the weapon.

He was about to admire the turret when Zoey called to him. Louis turned. She motioned with her hand, beckoning him to follow. Louis hurried over to her, then the Survivors made their way back to the stairs.

As the Survivors descended back into the front room, the radio suddenly came to life. The trio froze on the steps as they turned toward the radio. At first, all they heard was static.

Francis pushed pass his teammates. He was about to examine the electronic when a voice began to speak. "If there is anyone out there. This is John and Amanda Slater," said the voice coming from the radio. "We are a small fishing vessel anchored off Riverside. Please respond."

Louis and Zoey exchanged glances. Francis went over to the radio, then snatched up the microphone. Zoey watched as the biker raised the microphone to his mouth. Louis, meanwhile, went over to the window above the counters.

He stood beside Francis as he peered out. Louis repeatedly blinked as he spotted a shed. He wondered if there was more useful items in there. Maybe their missing teammate was in there?

Louis wanted to go check it out. He turned back to his teammates, wanting to tell them about the shed. "Hello. This is the cops," Francis lied, deepening his voice.

"Holy shit, Honey. Someone survived out there," John said to his wife. "and they say they're cops! Hang in there, Survivors. We'll come get you in ten minutes. Arm yourself for the trip and tell me when to head out."

Francis turned around. The two youths nodded, as if telling him to go ahead. He turned back to the radio. "We're ready," he said.

"Alright, Survivors. We'll be there in ten minutes," John explained over the radio. "Make sure you clear the area. I don't want our first act of kindness to be our last."

The radio went silent. Francis turned back to his teammates. He opened his mouth to speak, when the shouts of enraged individuals filled the air. The Survivors spun around, raising their weapons. "They're coming!" Louis yelled.

XXX

The Witch stared at the veteran with wide eyes. She still can't believe what he had told her. Her eyes were moist. _Maybe I shouldn't have said that_, Bill thought, taking a step back.

He was going to take another step back when the Witch grabbed him, then pulled him into a hug. She squeezed Bill tightly as big, hot tears began streaming down her face. Bill began choking as the Witch sobbed loudly. The Witch raised her arms, then placed her hands on his back.

When she heard him choking, she loosened her grasp. The Witch gasped. She didn't mean to squeeze him so hard. Bill began coughing as he tried to pull himself out of her grasp.

The Witch, realizing he was trying to pull away, decided to pull Bill closer. Before he could react, the Witch began crying into his shoulder. Bill gazed down at her.

The shoulder of his jacket was becoming soaked from the infected's tears. After a moment passed, Bill's breathing was back to normal. "I thought I'd told her what she wanted to hear?" Bill thought out loud. "I thought she wanted me to care about her?"

The Witch looked up at him upon hearing his voice. Her cries ceased. She repeatedly blinked as she realized he wasn't lying. Maybe he _does_ care about her, the Witch thought. Bill shifted slightly.

Suddenly, the Witch's hands began traveling down his back. Bill flinched as her hands reached his mid back. The Witch let out a moan as she closed her eyes. Bill's eyes widened when he realized what she was doing.

"Ahh. Not now," he said as he managed to pull out her grasp before the Witch's hands could reach his lower back.

Bill adjusted the bottom of his jacket. He went over to a window as the Witch opened her eyes. What does Bill mean by "not now", she thought as she turned toward him, lowering her arms.

The Witch blinked as she narrowed her eyes at him. Bill ignored her glare as he gazed out the window. He let out a low gasp when he took notice of a horde of infected. Not only there was a horde outside, but the infected were charging toward the boathouse.

Bill had a feeling as to why they were going into that boathouse. _There's probably other Survivors inside_, he thought, watching the horde enter the house._ How come I haven't noticed that boathouse before?_

The Witch stared at him with wide eyes, wondering what's happening. Bill wondered if there was any firearms around as he searched the place. To his misfortunate, there was no weapons in the shed. "Shit," he swore under his breath as the Witch went over to him.

Another cool breeze blew into the shed, making the veteran reached for the zipper of his jacket. The Witch, on the other hand, seemed unfazed. The temperature had seem to drop, making the night air cooler. "Bah-eel?" she began when she reached him.

Bill's hand stopped in mid air as he turned back to her. The Witch wiped the remaining tears from her face. "We gotta go," he said, lowering his hand. "This place is no longer safe."

The Witch blinked. "W-Wich.. ahh, Bah-eel?" she asked, meaning to say, "and" instead of, "ahh."

She was surprised he wanted to stick with her. Maybe the veteran is finally realizing they were meant to be? Suddenly, the duo heard distant gunfire. They exchanged glances.

Bill and the Witch both heard it at the same time. Maybe those Survivors could help them? The Witch, however, wasn't looking for anymore humans. She wanted to be left alone with Bill and feared if there were Survivors inside of the boathouse, then they may take him away.

Bill turned back to the Witch. He suddenly grabbed her hand. The Witch let out a low gasp she felt his palm on the back of her hand. She stared down at their hands for a second, not believing what she was seeing.

She blinked repeatedly before looking back at him. The Witch noticed a smile had crossed on Bill's lips. "It's okay, Sweetheart. I won't let them hurt ya," he told her soothingly, as if he had read her mind.

The Witch didn't reply. Why did he suddenly grab her hand and called her "Sweetheart?" And what's with the smile, anyway? The Witch thought Bill hated her for being this ugly creature.

Maybe Bill had been thinking she was going to kill him? Maybe she finally convinced him that she's not like the other infected and would help him. What ever it was, the Witch shook her head as she believed she was _definitely_ imagining this.

XXX

Author's note: That's it for this chapter. This chapter would have been longer, but I thought I was taking too long to update. I had started on the chapter a while ago, but when I read part one of the Sacrifice comic and I saw a video that had inspired this story, I stopped writing.

I didn't touch this chapter, until two days ago, when I decided I should finish this. Again, it may be another disappointment. Ah, well. It may take a while for the next chapter.

P.S: The art style is ugly, in my opinion. I was never a fan of comic book art styles.


	7. To Become A Member

The duo followed the horde's trail, being careful not to be detected by any of the members. The Witch felt the grip tightened on her hand as they approach the boathouse. When the horde reached the house, some of the members began banging on the front door. Several members began attacking the barricaded windows, breaking the glass and bending the planks.

The duo suddenly stopped short. Bill looked around for another entrance. He spotted a staircase leading to the balcony. Bill thought they could enter the house through the balcony.

That's when he noticed the stairs stood near one of the windows the horde was attacking. Maybe they had a better chance if they went around the back? As his eyes continued to scan the area, Bill remembered the horde will enter an area from different directions and would surround any potential victims.

He also noticed a few members of the horde were heading to the back of the house. Bill knew the Survivors were attracting the horde to that house, even if they weren't covered in boomer bile. Only one question remained, though. Should the duo enter the boathouse from the balcony or the back door?

Bill narrowed his eyes as he stared up at the balcony. There was a object on said balcony, which he could barely make out. He took a few steps closer to the house, trying to get a better look. When enough moonlight casted onto the object, Bill recognized what it was.

A turret stood on the balcony overhead. Bill blinked as he stared up at it. _I usually don't use these type of guns, _he thought. _but if it shoots bullets, then I'll use it._

The Witch moved closer to him. She wondered what he was staring at. The Witch turned toward him, opening her mouth to speak. "Let's go up there," Bill beckoned, interrupting her.

The Witch closed her mouth. She thought he wanted to meet up with those humans. The duo made a dash toward the stairs. As they approached the stairs, a few infected nearby detected their presence.

The small group of infected gave chase while the rest of the horde broke into the house. Bill and the Witch rushed up the steps. When they reached the top, the Witch spun around upon hearing the groans of the infected citizens. She knew why the other infected had suddenly followed them.

They were only there to kill Bill and she wouldn't allow it. The Witch raised her forearm, then lunged at them. The infected in front yelled as he charged up the steps. The two infected met on the middle steps. With one swift motion, the Witch slashed the man's abdomen.

Blood gushed from his wound as the man's corpse collasped onto the stairs. The Witch kept her arm raised as the rest of the group charged at her. She slashed them with her nails, killing them in one blow. When they were all dead, the Witch whirled around, then went back up the stairs.

When she reached the balcony, the Witch turned her head toward the veteran. He was using the turret, shooting members of the horde coming from the trees and from the entrance of the park. The horde probably knew the duo was here, the Witch thought. Bill was right about this place no longer being safe.

The Witch snapped out of her thoughts upon hearing Bill groan. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted a woman punching him in his back. The Witch let out a growl as she lunged at the infected woman. The woman didn't turn around or didn't even flinched.

Bill had let go the handles of the turret and was turning toward her. The woman had reeled her hand back, preparing to throw another punch. Suddenly, her fist paused in mid air as her eyes widened. Bill widened his eyes before lowering his gaze.

Not only he had been splattered by the woman's blood, he also noticed long, bloodied nails pertruding from her chest. Bill took a few steps back, knowing who had killed her. The Witch had gritted her teeth as she pulled her arm out of the woman. The woman collapsed onto the balcony.

The Witch raised her eyes toward the elder. Her anger immediately melted away as her lips curved into a smile. "Thanks for that," Bill said, wiping the blood from his shirt.

Suddenly, the house shook as if a little explosion had took place. The Witch immediately wrapped Bill into a hug. The shockwaves from the explosion weren't strong enough to knock them off their feet. She tightened her grip on him regardless.

As the house began to settle back down, the duo departed. They turned toward a huge hole in the wall, wondering what had cause that explosion. "Ewww... Ahh, shit," cried a muffled voice.

The duo exchanged glances. The cry sounded like it came from the first floor. The Survivors! How could they forget?

Bill made his way toward the stairs. The Witch followed, close behind. When they reached the stairs, Bill began descending the steps. The Witch, on the other hand, hesitated.

What if the other Survivors _really_ think she's a threat and try to kill her? What if they also tried to kill her Bill, too? The Witch doesn't want anyone - or anything - to harm her man. Maybe this isn't a good idea...

The Witch reached her arm out to grab Bill's shoulder, but he was out of her arm's reach. Her eyes widened before she rushed down the stairs after him. Bill reached the bottom steps, then scanned the area with his eyes. His eyes landed on the crates with the firearms.

His beady eyes widened. _That's more like it,_ Bill thought, recognizing the three type of weapons as pistol, an automatic shotgun and a M16.

Bill began making his way toward the weapons. Suddenly, a huge flock of infected rushed into the room through the windows and door. Bill immediately spun toward them as they headed his way. "That's a crock of shit," he muttered before disappearing into the crowd of infected.

The Witch froze on the bottom steps as she stared at the horde entering the house. When she realized she could no longer see Bill, the Witch began panicking. She raised her arms, letting out a terrified scream. Gunshots began echoing throughout the boathouse, but none came from her precious Bill.

XXX

The three Survivors were huddled in a corner of the boathouse's only bathroom, shooting and shoving away the members of the horde. "Be there in five minutes," said John over the radio.

The Survivors ignored him as they tried to wipe the bile from their faces. The trio had been sprayed with boomer bile before Louis had taken it out. Zoey pulled out her pipe bomb, preparing to throw it when a scream broke out.

She froze, still clutching the pipe bomb. Zoey turned. Louis and Francis were still shooting as if they didn't hear someone scream just a moment ago. Francis ceased fire to reload his shotgun. "Guys, did you hear that?" Zoey asked.

Francis didn't reply as he began loading shells into his shotgun. Louis turned his head toward the former college student as the bile evaporated off his face. "You mean that scream, right? Yeah, I heard it," Louis replied, shoving away an infected woman.

Zoey blinked, lowering her arm. "That scream... it sounded so familiar," she said.

She turned to Francis as he resumed shooting the horde. Zoey narrowed her gaze. "Francis, you said a witch kidnapped Bill, right?" she asked.

Francis grunted, but didn't change his posture or didn't turn to look at her. "Yeah, I did," he replied. "I told you guys _several_ times already," Francis quickly added.

Louis blinked as he began reloading his M16. "Why did ya asked?" Francis demanded, turning to first look at Louis, then Zoey.

Zoey had switched back to her pistols as Francis narrowed his gaze at her. She began firing her pistols at the infected. "Louis and I heard a witch's scream," Zoey answered.

Louis wiped boomer bile from his brow with the back of his hand. "There might be a witch inside this house," he added.

"And you two think this is the same witch that kidnapped the old man?" The biker asked, blinking. "How do you know that? She looked like every other friggin' witch we'd encountered before!"

"There might be a possibility that Bill is with her," Louis answered calmly.

Francis narrowed his eyes at the Junior Systems Analyst. "Really? Then how come we haven't heard or seen him?" he demanded.

He cocked his shotgun. Empty shells fell from the weapon. "And since when there was a Witch? We searched this whole damn house and I hadn't heard any of her cries," Francis added sharply.

Louis didn't reply. Within that moment, the horde was defeated. As the last few infected dropped dead, Francis loaded the last few shells into his shotgun. Louis and Zoey, meanwhile, had exited the bathroom. They made their way to the pile of ammunition.

When the duo reached the counters, they began collecting more ammo. Suddenly, they heard a growl coming from behind. Zoey and Louis immediately whirled around. Their eyes widened in horror at the sight of a witch, whowas standing on the bottom steps of the stairs.

Blood dripped off her nails as the emaciated infected glared at them. She pulled her mouth back into a snarl as Louis and Zoey froze in their spots. Francis finally exited the bathroom. He began making his way toward his teammates.

Suddenly, a door he hadn't noticed before flew open. Francis spun around as a man emerged from the under the stairs. Francis raised his weapon, preparing to shoot the man. The man's eyes widened in horror, realizing what the biker was about to do.

The man raised his hands in front of him as if signaling Francis to stop. "Francis, hold your fire!" cried the man. "It's me, Bill! Don't shoot!"

Francis kept his shotgun pointing at the older man as his eyes widened in realization. Louis, Zoey and the Witch had turned toward the duo at the sound of Bill's voice. Louis and Zoey were glad that their teammate was alive. The Witch was relieved that the horde hadn't take the veteran away.

Francis began examining his teammate with his eyes. He blinked repeatedly at the sight of Bill's blood stained shirt. "Bill, man, what the hell happen to ya?" he asked, staring at his shirt. Bill lowered his arms before looking down at his shirt.

Just then, his two other teammates and the Witch appeared. Louis let out a low gasp at the sight of Bill. Zoey raised her hands to her face, gaping her mouth in horror. The Witch, on the other hand, seemed unfazed about the veteran's appearance.

She knew he wasn't covered in his own blood. Bill looked back at Francis just as he had turned his gaze onto the Witch. The middle aged man's eyes widened in horror at the sight of the Witch. To make it worse, she had blood dripping off her nails.

Francis began to assume that the Witch may have attacked Bill. He didn't know why that Witch kidnapped his friend, but he'll make sure she'll never do it again. Francis raised his shotgun, then pointed at the infected.

The Witch narrowed her eyes at him as Francis placed his finger on the trigger. Zoey and Louis had risen their weapons, but, unlike Francis, had clicked off their flashlights. The flashlights didn't need to be on, since the room was brightly lit. "We'll be there in three minutes," John said.

Zoey and Louis had pointed their weapons at the Witch, who'd begin to growl. Bill decided now he should say something before they shoot the Witch. "Wait, people! Do not shoot her just yet!" he exclaimed. "I have a better idea."

Everyone turned toward him. Francis adjusted the shotgun in his hands, but still had it pointing at the Witch. Her growling had ceased, but she was still glaring at the biker. "What _is_ your idea?" he demanded.

Zoey took a step closer to the Witch, still pointing her pistols at the other female. Louis stayed back. "What happened to your chest?" Zoey added, staring back at the blood stain on the war veteran's olive shirt.

Bill opened his mouth to speak. Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently. The quake was followed by a deafening roar. The Survivors knew all too well what was heading their way.

"TAAANK!" Louis yelled, opening fire on the infected as it charged into the boathouse through the front entry.

The Tank swung its broad arm at the bald man. When its fist made contact with Louis, he went flying. He crashed into the former college student, the veteran, the Witch and the biker as if they were bowling pins and he was a bowling ball.

The Survivors and the Witch lied on ground in a pile. The Tank cheered before rushing over to them. The five of them pulled themselves to their feet. Bill was the first one back on his feet when the Tank reached them.

He spun around in time to the fist before it made contact with his body. The elder was sent flying. The other Survivors' eyes widened in horror. The Witch let out a ear piercing shriek before going after him.

Bill flew out the opened back door and over the deck. He flew into the water. The water let out a big _splash! _on impact. The Witch rushed out the door and made her way toward the edge of the deck.

She was hoping Bill was okay. He may have fallen in shallow water, but he could have landed on something hard, like a rock. That is, if the current hadn't begin to drag him out to deeper water.

The Witch jumped into the water. She flailed her arms, splashing up water as she searched. Her eyes darted around the area. She was hoping Bill was still in the shallow waters.

The Witch would drown if she ventured into the deeper water. She ducked beneath the surface, then waited for her eyes to adjust before continuing her search. Air bubbles rose from her nose and mouth as the Witch tried to shriek.

The Tank headed toward the opened doorway, determining to kill the war veteran. The two of three other Survivors gave chase, opening fire on the brawny infected. Louis removed the molotov from his thigh, then raised his forearm. He was preparing to set the Tank on fire.

When the Tank reached the doorway, Louis threw the molotov. The molotov seemed to fly slowly through the air. Louis' eyes widened as he watched. He hoped he hadn't thrown too far or too late.

He hoped it'll break on the creature and set it on fire. Fortunately for Louis, the molotov cocktail crashed and shattered on the ground near the Tank, splashing the flammable fluid onto the infected. Fire from the burning news paper quickly spread along the fluid.

The flames began spreading around the Tank's body. The Tank roared in pain. It continued to go after Bill, despite being consuming by the flames. Zoey and Francis stopped short as the wall of flames were blocking off the back door.

They spun around. "Looks like we gotta go around," Zoey said, beginning to reload her pistols.

Francis rolled his brown eyes. "No Shit, _Sherlock_," he muttered.

Louis and Zoey ignored him as they made a dash toward the front doorway. Francis followed, walking casually, as if his other teammate wasn't in any danger. The trio exited the house, then made their way toward the back. As they approached the deck, the Survivors thought they heard someone call out.

The Survivors immediately jogged over. When they reached the deck's edge, they spotted the Tank. The fire had been extinguished, but the Tank's body still smelled like burning flesh. It was chasing after Bill, who had nothing to use to defend himself.

The Witch chased after the Tank. She was filled with rage. Her eyes glowed like burning embers as she flailed her arms. The Tank roared in pain as the Witch was slashing his back.

The Survivors watched in bewilderment. The Witch was trying to _save_ Bill from the Tank? They didn't really believe what they were seeing. Maybe the Tank was preventing her from finishing off Bill, so she's trying to kill _both_ of them?

The Survivors weren't so sure. They hopped off the deck, then opened fire on the Tank as they gave chase. Bill tried to dodge the Tank's punches, but he was moving slowly. His body was battered and bruised. Bill tried to duck, but the Tank struck him as he was bending his knees.

He cried out in pain as he went soaring through the night air. Bill closed his eyes, waiting for the painful impact onto ground to come. The Tank cheered, splashing up a lot of water as the other Survivors finally caught up to him. The Tank's cheers were cut short when Francis had smacked its spine with the butt of his gun.

The Tank let out a loud roar before whirling around. He spotted the Survivors and the Witch, who'd reeled her arm back, preparing to stab him. The Tank let out a groan before throwing a punch. Francis didn't bother to move, until after he got punched.

As he was sent flying, his two remaining teammates began backing away from the Tank, but were still shooting it. The Tank did another cheer, splashing up more water. Just then, it felt itself being pricked. His cheering ceased as the pain began to rapidly increase.

The Tank let out a roar of pain before lowering its gaze. The Witch glared up at it with her arm stuck in his side. She had stab the Tank with her nails. The Tank let out another roar before trying to shake her free.

The Witch began screaming as she first shook up and down, then from left to right, all the while, her nails were still in his side. Francis hurried over to his teammates as they continued to shoot the large, enraged infected. He joined them.

Francis shook his head in disbelief when he caught sight of the Witch hanging from the Tank's side. The Witch continued to scream as the Tank shook his body. Her grip was beginning to loosen. Her nails began sliding out of the Tank's wound.

The Witch knew in any moment she'll fall. She tightly closed her eyes. Gunfire and the Tank's roaring rang in her ears. As she continued to slide out of the Tank's wound, she began wondering what had happened to Bill.

The Witch imagined war veteran's body covered in wounds, bruises and scratches. A pool of blood spreaded from him as he floated lifelessly in the water. His eyes were glazed over as blood streamed from his nose and mouth. His bottom lip was cut and bruised.

His face was frozen in shock. The current was carrying his body down the river. The Witch's eyes began to water at the thought of her Bill being dead, when the Tank let out its final groan. Her eyes flew open as the Tank's corpse fell backwards.

The Witch screamed as she was dragged down into the water with it. The three Survivors ceased fire, then began reloading their firearms. Suddenly, they heard someone call out. The Survivors were sure they'd heard someone this time, since the area was silent.

Bill moved his arm, disturbing the water around it. He was trying to get his team's attention. Bill was losing air as he bled out. The Tank's last punch had immobilized him.

Bill knew he should try saving his breath, but he didn't know how much blood he had left in him. He thought he might bleed to death before he'll run out of oxygen. Bill winced as pain washed over his battered body.

Blood streamed from his wounds and was filling the water around him. His heart loudly pounded in his chest. "Need some help over here!" he called as water began filling his mouth.

He immediately began to choke. Bill's vision was blurred as he believed his teammates may not know of his absence. Air bubbles rose from his mouth and nose as he choked on the water.

Bill thought he was about to die. His body went limp. His eyes were fluttering close. If only they knew...

Suddenly, through his blurred vision, Bill saw two legs heading toward him. He hoped this person was his teammate and not an infected. Even if the person was an infected, it wouldn't matter, since he was already dying.

Upon reaching him, the person bent down and scooped him up. When he was out of the water, Bill began coughing. He spat out blood and water as the person pulled him closer to them. He began shivering as a light breeze blew toward him.

The water had been cold and he was soaked from head to toe. Bill let out another cough before looking up at his savior. Staring down at him was none other than the Witch. Bill really didn't care before, but now, he was very grateful she'd come to his rescue.

Death was practically in his face. Water dripped off her hair as the Witch scanned the veteran with her eyes. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight of his wounds. The Witch knew they never should have went to that boathouse.

She knew he'll get hurt if they went looking for his team. The Witch clutched him tightly as a sob escaped her throat. She closed her eyes just as the first few tears began streaming down her ashened face. The Witch knew it was a bad idea.

Bill's eyes were glazed over as he stared up at her. He opened mouth to speak, but his teeth began chattering uncontrollably. He needed to be dried off and to warm up. The Witch opened her, then gritted her teeth as more tears began streaming down her face.

Suddenly, she heard splashing. The Witch gazed up. Several feet ahead of her were Louis, Francis and Zoey. The three Survivors were aiming their weapons at her.

The Witch pressed the veteran tightly into her chest as she began to groan. She believed the other Survivors were going to take her Bill away like they did a few times before. She wouldn't let that happen. They'll have to kill her if they really wanted their teammate.

The Witch let out more groans, trying to ware them off. The trio slowly approached her, keeping their weapons aimed at her. "Drop Bill, or we'll shoot you," Francis threatened, narrowing his gaze.

Louis had a terrified expression on his face. He knew the Witch's very dangerous, especially when aggravated. Zoey tightened her grip on her hunting rifle as she peered into the scope. Francis gritted his teeth as he glared at the infected.

The Witch was on the verge to attack. Her groans grew louder. Louis and Zoey shrank back, startled by her groans. Francis appeared unfaze as he moved closer to the Witch. Bill turned his head toward his approaching teammate.

Bill opened his mouth to warn the biker that she will attack him if he continued to threaten her or approach them. The only sounds that came out of his mouth were groans. He spat up more fluids before losing consciousness. Louis let out a gasp, tightening the grip on his assault rifle.

Zoey removed the scope from her eye. Both of her eyes widened in horror. "Oh god, not Bill!" she cried.

Francis cocked his shotgun as he placed his finger on the trigger. The Witch had lowered her gaze. She closed her eyes as she felt more tears on the rims of her eyes. "Bah-eel," she whispered.

Suddenly, the Witch cried out. Francis had shot her in her hands again. Blood began to stream from her new wounds as she dropped the veteran. She was splashed in the face when Bill hit the water.

Instead of attacking the biker, the Witch covered her ears with her arms, then spun around. She began screaming as she took off. Francis was about to give chase when he felt a hand clap his shoulder. He turned around.

Zoey gazed up at him. The Witch's screams ceased as she disappeared from view. The Survivors thought they won't see that particular witch anymore, although they could be wrong. "Let her go," Zoey said, removing her hand from his shoulder.

The biker didn't reply. Louis was examining his seemedly dead teammate. He placed his ear on Bill's chest. When he heard Bill's heart beating, Louis let out a sigh of relief.

He lifted his head as Zoey and Francis were approaching him. "So, what's the verdict?" Zoey asked.

Louis let out another sigh. "He's alive, but I don't know how much longer he has left to live," he replied. "We have to get him some first aid."

"We could just leave him here," Francis suggested.

Zoey and Louis narrowed their gazes at him. "What? He's too much trouble to keep around in this state," Francis added quickly.

"So, you want us to leave him here to drown?" Louis blinked. "He's our friend, remember? Would you prefer if we let _you_ drown?"

Francis adjusted the shotgun in his hands. "Nah, I can't drown. I'm indestructible," he reminded Louis.

Suddenly, shouts, shrieks and groans filled the night air as another horde appeared in the area. The Survivors dragged their unconscious teammate onto shore. Within that same moment, the horde's members were surrounding the humans, attacking them from different sides. The Survivors huddled in one spot, then took on the horde.

XXX

Two ocean blues eyes fluttered open. Through his blurred vision, Bill managed to make out two legs, which were in front of him. He shifted his eyes. He spotted two more pairs of legs.

He heard voices, but couldn't make out the words. Bill pulled himself to a sitting position, then rubbed both eyes. He placed a hand on the ground beside himself. Bill let out a low gasp when he felt the cold, rickety wooden floor.

He peered down at it. That's when he realized he was on a deck. A light stood on his left, lighting up the deck. As he stood up, Bill felt the deck rock.

The deck rocked lightly from left to right. Bill turned, then immediately shielded his face from the light as he faced it. That's when he realized, _I'm on a boat. How the hell did I get here?_

The indistinctive conversation went on as Bill turned his head toward the three humans. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he noticed the Survivors had their backs to him. Another light breeze blew pass him, but it didn't really bother him. As he thought about it, Bill realized he wasn't soaked with water anymore.

Bill looked down at himself. He noticed the blood stain had vanished from his shirt. His eyes widened in surprise before he moved his hand over to one of his injuries. That's when Bill realized all of his injuries were gone.

His face twisted with confusion. _I don't believe this, _he thought. _I woke up on a boat, I'm dry and my injuries are gone. What the hell is going on here?_

One of the other Survivors turned around. The shortest Survivor blinked her eyes when she took notice of the veteran. "Hey, guys. Bill's awake," said the woman.

The two other humans turned in unison. Bill blinked when he realized who the humans were. Zoey, Francis and Louis stood a few in front of him. She went over to the veteran, then handed him his flashlight.

Bill stared down at it before looking back at the young woman. Zoey frowned when she noticed Bill's facial expression. "Bill, what's wrong?" she asked.

Louis also frowned, but didn't say anything. Francis' expression didn't change. Bill turned from teammate to teammate, noticing their injuries were gone. Apparently, when the Survivors aboarded the fishing vessel, their injuries had been healed.

Zoey turned to Francis. "What's wrong with him?" she asked Francis.

Francis shrugged. "He must've had a nightmare," Louis replied, making his way toward the elder.

Bill, noticing this, took a few steps back. He didn't want his teammates to think he was losing his mind, so he decided to speak. The last thing the Survivors needed was one of their own becoming insane. "People, there's nothing wrong with me," he assured them.

Zoey blinked. "Are you sure?" she asked. "You have been acting strange lately."

Bill narrowed his eyes at her. "No I haven't!" he snapped, then immediately calmed down.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "I've been very stressed lately. I don't mean to worry y'all."

"We've _all_ been stressed lately," Zoey reminded him. "especially when that Witch kidnapped you."

Louis' eyes lightened up. He almost forgot about that Witch. Maybe Bill had the answer as to why she'd abducted him? Louis finally reached the veteran, who began rubbing his eye with his hand.

He blinked before speaking. "Bill, do you know _why_ that Witch kidnapped you?" Louis asked.

Bill stopped rubbing his eye, then turned to Louis. He lowered his hand, but didn't answer his teammate's question. The boat became silent as Louis, Francis and Zoey waited for Bill's answer. Francis narrowed his eyes at Bill.

"C'mon, Bill. We don't have all night," he exclaimed, breaking the silence.

Unbeknownst to the Survivors, they had a lot less time than they thought. The boat was heading toward shore. The Slaters hadn't really spoken to the Survivors, since they aboarded their boat. The Survivors didn't bother to speak to the Slaters, especially since the couple had been bickering with one another.

Also unbeknownst to the Survivors, the Witch hadn't really left the area. She had hid inside of the shed - which none of the Survivors checked - until the boat arrived. She then snuck onto said boat, and had hid inside of the chamber where the catches were kept before the Survivors had gotten on board. The Witch had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

Just like the Survivors, her injuries were also healed. The Witch poked her head out of the chamber's entrance, and that's when she noticed the Junior Systems Analyst, the biker and the former college student were staring at the war veteran. From where she was, it appeared they had their eyes narrowed as if they were upset with him. Maybe they were going to harm Bill?

The Witch leaned forward as Bill's teammates surrounded him. Her eyes widened in horror. They're _actually_ going to hurt him, she thought, becoming angry. How dare they do such a thing, especially after he'd been badly injured?

The Witch let out low groans at the thought. None of the humans seemed to notice. Bill let out a sigh, noticing the stares of his teammates. "I think it's because she _loves _with me," he answered finally.

Francis, Louis and Zoey stared at the veteran, but didn't reply. The Witch suddenly stopped groaning. Her eyes lightened up when she realized Bill _does_ know that she loves him. Bill blinked, turning from teammate to teammate.

"She obsessed with me," he continued. "She won't leave me alone. Whenever I tried to leave, she'll flip out. She also asked me if Iloved her."

Francis crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, _really_?" He sounded disbelieving. "What else did she tell you? That you should take her to a salon to get her nails done?"

Francis chuckled softly at his own joke. Zoey blinked."W-wow. She likes you, Bill?" she asked, not really believing what she was hearing. "That's... something I wouldn't have expected."

She turned away just as Louis made a face of disgust. The image that suddenly appeared in his mind sickened him. "Uh, congratulations?" he said, avoiding Bill's eyes.

Louis felt like he was going to hurl. Bill narrowed his eyes at his teammates. "I am serious here, people!" he exclaimed.

Louis swallowed the vomit that had been tickling at his throat before placing a hand on Bill's shoulder. Bill turned his head. "Don't worry about that Witch," Louis said, still avoiding Bill's eyes. "She's long gone."

"Yeah. We won't be seeing her anymore," Zoey added.

Bill shook his head. "You people are wrong," he said. "It may _appear_ that she's gone, but I know when we get to shore, we'll cross paths with her again. It happened many times before."

Just then, the fishing vessel had ceased movement. The quartet dropped their discussion, then exchanged glances. They rushed over to the railings, then looked around the area. There were nothing but trees and a few shrubs in the area.

"Well, here we are," said John over the intercom. "Watch your back. You never know what could be lurking in these woods. I suggest you travel lightly."

XXX

_'I suggest you travel lightly,_' echoed throughout the Survivors' minds as they traveled through another seemedly abandoned city.

They can't believe the Slaters had stripped them of their weapons and kicked them off their vessel. The Slaters also left them for dead when a horde appeared. "Thanks for the firearms," Amanda had said and waved when the boat was pulling away.

The Survivors sweared, shouted and threatened to harm the couple, but it didn't matter at that point. They had weapons and a vehicle, while the Survivors had nothing. The only weapon they managed to keep were their pistols. Bill managed to take one of his teammates' spare pistols before getting off the vessel.

So now, each Survivor had one pistol as they tried to fend off the horde. When it seemed like they were being overwhelmed, an unlikely person came to their rescue. Everyone, but Bill, stood in shock and awe as the Witch seemed to appear out of thin air, then attacked and killed members of the horde.

It seemed the Slaters had left the Survivors a little gift before making their great getaway. The Witch let out a growl as she slashed infected after infected. Blood gushed from the common infected as their bodies collasped to the ground.

"See? What did I tell you?" Bill shook his head. "Son of a bitch seems to know where I'm at _all_ times."

The Witch turned her head. She growled at him for insulting her. Bill ignored her as he scanned the area with his eyes. His eyes landed on a city, which wasn't that far from them.

From where he stood, it appeared the city was filled with destruction. Bill narrowed his gaze, thinking there was probably no one alive in that city. Whoever remained there were probably infected. He thought there was no point going through that city.

"Hey, guys, let's go through that city!" Francis called suddenly, interrupting Bill's thoughts. "There's probably someone there to rescue us."

Bill opened his mouth to protest, when a slab of rubble smacked him on the side of his head. The rubble exploded on impact. Bill groaned in pain when he hit the ground. His groan was drowned out by the sound of a Tank cheering.

Francis, the Witch, Louis and Zoey spun around as the Tank charged toward him. Their eyes widened in fear. "TAAANK!" Zoey, Francis and Louis yelled in unison.

Bill placed a hand on his head as he pulled himself to his feet. His eyes widened at the sight of the Tank. "TANK!" he yelled, raising his pistol.

Bill began opening fire on the Tank. His team were also shooting the Tank. The Witch was about to rush over to Bill to check out his injury when she remembered what he'd told her earlier that night: _"If you fend off the horde, and we can find my team then, if I can convince them, you'll be able to tag along,"_

The Witch's eyes widened. If she assisted his team, then they may let her stick with the group. Which meant she can still be with her man without the fear of being killed by his teammates. The Witch rushed over to the Tank.

Upon reaching it, she began slashing the Tank's side. Zoey, Louis and Francis quickly joined her in attacking the Tank's side. Bill joined them after reloading his pistol. Even with the efforts of all five of them, it wasn't enough to kill the Tank.

In fact, they were agitating him more. To make their situation worse, not only did another horde appeared, but with it, was another Tank. The Survivors had to cease fire, then flee. The Witch followed close behind, attacking any infected that had gotten too close to them.

The pentad ran toward the city's entrance. A barricade blocked the road leading in and out of the city. Maybe the military were trying to prevent the infection from entering the city? From the city's appearance, it seemed like the infection had already broke through their defenses.

Who knows, maybe there's someone willingly to rescue them somewhere within the city? That sparked a little hope within the Survivors as they climbed the barricade. The barricade wasn't too high or too steep for them to climb. The Witch followed, keeping a close eye on her Bill.

She didn't want him to get hurt again. That's when the Survivors found themselves inside of another city overrun with the infected, searching for rescue. This city seemed more forsaken than Philadelphia. The Survivors tried to take refuge in a few places, but kept having to leave, due to an infected detecting them and, from their groaning and snarling, alerted the rest of the infected in the area.

The Survivors did not have any good weapons on them. There was a reason why they never really travel during the daylight hours - the infected could easily spot them. The Witch spent part of the morning protecting them. The pentad soon took refuge in a greenhouse located on top of an apartment building.

They spent most of the daylight hours inside of the greenhouse. The Witch sat down beside Bill, who took a long drag on his cigarette. She watched as he removed the cigarette from his lips. He let out a long sigh.

The Witch placed a hand on his. Bill looked down at their hands for a second, before looking at her. A smile crossed her lips as the Witch stared into his eyes. Bill placed the cigarette back in his mouth as he stared at her.

The Witch leaned in, then pecked him on the cheek. She pulled away as a smile crossed her lips. Bill blinked, but didn't say anything. Instead, he turned away.

Zoey brushed hair from her face as she and Francis began conversing. Louis checked his gun holster and pockets for any spare ammunition for his pistol. It turned out he didn't needed any spare ammo for his pistol - its ammunition was infinite. Louis could never run out of ammo for his pistol, even if he tried.

Louis let out a low sigh before lowering his weapon. He began wondering if _all_ handguns had this effect to them. He turned around to ask. His eyes suddenly bugged out at the sight of the Witch, who'd placed her head on the veteran's shoulder while he smoked his cigarette.

Bill seemed unfazed about the Witch having her head on his shoulder. She still had her hand on his as she smiled, closing her eyes. Louis blinked repeatedly, not believing what he was seeing. "WITCH!" he yelled, pointing at the duo.

Apparently, Louis didn't notice the Witch had followed him and his team, until this very moment. Zoey and Francis immediately dropped their conversation, then spun around. Their eyes widened in surprise. "WITCH!" they cried in unison.

The Witch let out a gasp of surprise, then began groaning. She first glared at Zoey and Francis, then turned her glare onto Louis. She stood up, then raised both arms, preparing to attack. Francis removed the pistol from his gun holster.

He began reloading his weapon as the Witch's groaning became louder. She had a strong urge to attack. Zoey stood up, then began backing away. Louis gasped, which caused him to drop his pistol.

Bill's eyes widened, knowing what was about to happen. He quickly stood up. "There's going to be hell to pay if you keep aggravating that Witch," Bill warned, pointing a finger at the infected beside him.

Louis froze. When his pistol hit the rooftop, it clattered. Bill shot Louis a glare as he placed a hand on the Witch's shoulder. "This is not how I wanted the new recruit to introduce herself to my team," he said, turning his glare onto the infected.

The Witch's anger suddenly melted. She let out a gasp. Bill hadn't forgotten his promise of her joining his team, she thought. Bill turned from teammate to teammate, narrowing his eyes.

"You people should no better than to piss her off," Bill continued. "She'd killed you once and I'm pretty damn sure she will not hesitate to do it again."

Francis repeatedly blinked. "Have you lost your damn mind, Bill?" he demanded. "She's a homicidal bitch and, if you hadn't noticed, was about to attack."

"That's because y'all were agitating her," Bill replied calmly. "As long as we don't give her a reason to attack, then she'll remain calm."

"Francis is right. We can't risk having her on our team," Zoey interjected. "She'll do us more harm than good."

Bill blinked as he turned his gaze on her. He opened his mouth to ask, "how the hell do you know that," when the sound of a plane's engine cut him off. The pentad immediately looked up. A military jet flew overhead, partially sideways in the early evening sky.

Zoey, Francis and Louis stood up, then immediately equipped their pistols. A jet, especially an operating one, meant there were probably more Survivors around. This pilot probably isn't infected, unlike the last one they met. There was still a chance for this group of immune to be rescued and taken to a safety zone.

The Survivors just have to get to that jet. The Witch, on the other hand, didn't want to meet up with any more humans. She feared that the pilot may take Bill away, as she believed everyone and everything else would. The Witch had become very paranoid after losing Bill more times than she feared.

"That plane looks like it's heading to the airport," Francis said, as he watched the jet disappear from view.

"The C-130's nice flying," Bill added, recognizing the model of the jet as he equipped his pistol.

"Unless someone has a better plan, I say we head there," Zoey said before brushing dirt from the seat of her jeans.

That's when the Survivors finally looked around the area. There were two tables in front of the wall furthest from them. One table had four first aid kits, and a pump shotgun and a submachine gun lying on top. The other had four pipe bombs and four molotov cocktails on it.

Potted plants either hung from the ceiling, stood on top of tables and the floor or laid strewn about around the room. Dirt and the dead plants had spilled from the broken pots. The Survivors each strapped a pack onto their backs, then equipped a weapon. They then went over to the explosives.

As the Survivors took one explosive, then strapped them onto their thighs, Bill stared at the pipe bomb he'd picked up. "I rather have a grenade, but this'll do," he said before strapping onto his thigh.

Louis had retrieved his pistol from where he dropped it. As the Survivors turned to leave, they heard a moan. They spun around. The Witch had pouted her lips, staring back at them with big, sparkly eyes.

She batted her eye lashes. The Survivors turned to face each other. Three of the four man group wondered what they were going to do with that Witch. _"Well, since she's an infected, she will be very dangerous to the entire group if we let her follow us," _echoed throughout their minds.

They then remembered the Witch appearing out of nowhere and protecting them from that horde. She also assisted them in attacking the Tank. She even protected them, when they didn't know she was there. Maybe she wouldn't be that bad of an addition to their team...

The trio also wondered what would happen if Bill wasn't there to calm her down during their trip to the airport? They hoped that wouldn't happen. Every member's vital to the team. If they lost a teammate, then the entire team is affected.

The sound of a pipe bomb beeping snapped the trio out of their thoughts. They turned to see Bill standing on a ledge, peering down at something. Francis, Louis and Zoey moved closer to him. That's when they noticed a group of infected surrounding a pipe bomb.

Bill had probably thrown it. They attacked the air above it, but that didn't cease the beeping. Instead, the bomb exploded. The infected individuals exploded into a shower of blood and guts.

The explosion also caused the hanging plants to rock violently. The Survivors began hopping off the ledge one-by-one. Bill was the last one on the ledge. He was just about to hop off when the Witch grabbed his shoulder.

Bill turned to her, narrowing his eyes. The Witch still had her lips pouted as she gazed up at him. She still wanted to go with them, even if they were going to encounter another non infected person. The Witch knew as soon as the person does anything she doesn't approve of, she will not hesitate to attack.

The Witch removed her hand from his shoulder, then grabbed his arm as she stared into his eyes. "Wich ahh Bah-eel?" she asked.

Bill blinked, still having his eyes narrowed. "Yes. You're part of the team," he replied. "otherwise that arguement would have been pointless."

Silence fell over them as the duo stared into each other's eyes. Suddenly, the Witch leaned in for a kiss. She closed her eyes as she puckered her crusty, bruised lips. She tightened her grip on Bill's arm.

"Whoah, whoah, whoah! Jesus, Bill, what are you doing?" Louis demanded suddenly, after turning back to them.

The Witch's eyes flew open. She turned to see Louis looking up at them, placing a clip into his submachine gun. Zoey and Francis had already exited the greenhouse. They were shooting the infected roaming on the rooftops.

The Witch pulled her lips back into a snarl as she glared at the bald man. She can't believe that man had rudely interrupted them. Bill shook his arm out of her grasp, then raised his pump shotgun. "Nothing, Louis," he answered quietly.

"Let's get moving," he quickly added.

Bill hopped off the ledge, then hurried over to his other teammates. The Witch and Louis followed. He wondered if he really saw his teammate about to kiss the Witch, when the trio caught up with the biker and the former college student. They just were entering a building through one of its windows.

The group began traveling from building to building, searching for useful items and a way back down into the streets. Bill was searching an apartment unit's bathroom. He didn't find anything he could use. As he turned to leave, Bill heard the front door close.

He blinked before stepping out the bathroom. _It must've been the wind_, Bill thought, although he wasn't so sure.

Bill turned to the door, pointing his flashlight at it. He raised his weapon, then slowly approached the door. As he near the door, Bill thought he saw something glowing in a corner. He immediately turned toward it.

His flashlight shone on the object. The object gasped, then began groaning. As Bill stared at it, he immediately recognized the shape. "Shit, Witch," Bill whispered, eyes widening.

He took a few steps back as he reached for his flashlight. The Witch narrowed her eyes at him. She began approaching Bill. Bill took another step back, in which his boot made contact with a wall.

Bill aimed his shotgun at her, clicking off his flashlight. The Witch's eyes widened in horror. She raised her arms as to shield herself. "Bah-eel!" the Witch cried.

Suddenly, Bill lowered his weapon. The Witch's heart pounded in her chest before she slowly lowered her arms. "I'm just horseshittin' ya," he said. "I knew it was you."

The Witch narrowed her eyes at him as a low growl escaped her throat. Bill turned back to the door. It was about time they regroup with the others. He began walking.

"Bah-eel?" the Witch asked suddenly.

Bill stopped short, then turned around. The Witch reached out and grabbed his wrist. It was the same wrist she remembered breaking back at Mercy Hospital. How did it heal so quickly?

She pulled him closer to her. Bill blinked as he looked at her. "Luhh Wich nahh," the Witch commanded.

XXX

Louis went over to Francis, who was bashing an infected's head with the butt of his shotgun. Louis blinked as blood from the infected's head gushed onto his face. As the body collasped to the ground, Louis wiped the blood from his face with the sleeve of his shirt.

Francis, meanwhile, began reloading his weapon. "Do you know how I can talk to Bill without having to worry about that Witch?" Louis asked. "Whenever I tried to speak to him, she'll become angry and pulled Bill away.

Francis turned his head. "Huh? Witch? I thought we left her back at the greenhouse?"

Louis shook his head. "She's currently following Bill," he said before pointing at the room where Bill, Zoey and the Witch are in.

Zoey had gone into that room a moment earlier, wondering what had happened to her teammates. Francis immediately lost interest in the subject. He began making his way toward a stairway. "I also saw them about to kiss," Louis quickly added, realizing his teammate had lost interest in the subject.

For all they knew, Zoey could be witnessing Bill and the Witch kissing at that very moment. Francis suddenly stopped walking, then turned around, knowing Louis' statement had peaked his interest. "Whoah! Bill was about to _kiss_ that Witch?" he asked as a smirk appeared on his face.

Louis nodded. Francis blinked, not really believing what he was hearing. "I would never expected anything like that from the Old Man..."

He turned, noticing a window. Francis went over to it, then peered out. His eyes scanned the area as he thought about what he'd heard from his teammate. Louis turned back to the room where his teammates were.

"Hey, Louie. Come check this out," Francis suddenly called.

Louis turned back to him. Francis motioned his brawny arm for Louis to come. The bald man made his way to Francis. Francis then pointed his finger out the window.

Louis peered out. Parked in front of a hotel's entrance was a car. Louis turned to Francis, not understanding what he was trying to show him. "Look!" Francis called, still pointing his finger at the car.

Louis turned back to the vehicle. That's when he noticed its windshield and windows were blinking, indicating the car was armed. Louis turned back to him as Francis' smile grew wider. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Francis asked before cocking his shotgun.

Louis blinked, but didn't reply. He knew what his teammate was planning, but would it be worth the trouble he's about to cause? Francis chuckled before breaking the window with the side of his weapon. Louis gulped as he anticapated the trouble that was about to happen.

XXX

"Ah, hell!" Bill swore as the car's alarm went off.

He knew either Francis or Louis had shot the vehicle, since Zoey had been with him the whole time. Bill didn't even _know_ there was an armed car around, until the very moment the alarm went off. Within a moment, the horde would arrive. The Witch blinked repeatedly as the noise rang her ears.

She wondered where the noise was coming from as she, Bill and Zoey searched for an exit. That's when the first wave of infected arrived. The Survivors opened fire on them. The Witch began attacking other members of the horde, trying to protect Bill.

The Witch could honestly care less for Zoey. As they were shooting, the two Survivors noticed a red steel door inside of a hotel across the street. The safe room used to be the hotel's kitchen. Louis and Francis were already inside.

They were calling out to Bill and Zoey. Louis stood in the doorway while Francis was healing himself with a health pack, although he didn't need it. Louis shoved, then shot any infected that decided to attack him. He watched as his teammates and the Witch made their way toward him.

His eyes widened when Louis realized the horde wasn't attacking the infected. He turned back to Francis, who was now collecting more ammo for his shotgun from a pile of ammunition on top of a counter. "Francis, what's suppose to happen?" he asked.

Francis didn't even look up. "Oh, _you'll_ see," he answered mysteriously.

Louis repeatedly blinked before turning back to the door. Zoey was the first one to reach the safe house. She ran pass Louis, who had stepped aside. Zoey went over to the pile of ammunition. Louis peered back out the door just as Bill took a step into the room.

It only took this one little step into the safe room for the Witch to no longer detect his presence. As soon as Bill's boot made contact with the kitchen's tile flooring, the Witch began to panic. She frantcially looked around. What happened to him?

One minute, he was a in front of her. The next minute, he was gone. How did Bill magically vanished into thin air when he was standing in front of her? The Witch didn't have a clue as to how and why he kept disappearing.

The Witch covered her ears with her arms, then began screaming. Bill heard her screams and immediately turned back to the opened doorway. Louis cringed from the screaming. Zoey's eyes widened.

"That sounds like the Witch," she said, stating the obvious.

The Witch spun around, preparing to run away. Bill blinked. "Wait, I'm right here!" he called out to her as she began running down the road. "Where the hell are you going?"

Her screams drowned him out, making it appear that she was ignoring him. Bill was about to head out the safe room, when he heard chuckling. He turned around. Francis was covering his mouth with his hand, letting out low chuckles.

Zoey twisted her face in confusion as the biker laughed. She wondered what was so funny. Louis knew why he was laughing. He rolled his eyes before looking away.

Bill narrowed his eyes at Francis as his eyes filled with tears. Was it _really_ that funny? "What's so funny?" Bill demanded.

Francis suddenly broke out into loud laughter. He was laughing so hard that his sides began to ache. Francis clutched his sides as the veteran glared at him. Louis turned back to the opened doorway as the screaming continued.

His eyes widened when he noticed her. Unlike before, the Witch hadn't left the area. Instead, she was running around in circles, screaming her head off. "Can you lock that door?" Zoey asked.

Louis nodded, then reached for the door. Francis turned back to Bill, who'd crossed his arms over his chest. Francis wiped a lone tear from his eye as his laughter ceased. He noticed the angry expression on the older man's face.

Bill wasn't in the mood for horseplay. Francis then thought about it. Is Bill _ever_ in the mood for horseplay? "Hell, I guess Louis was right," he said, mostly to himself.

Bill opened his mouth to ask him what he meant by that when he heard a metallic _CLICK!_ He knew that Louis had closed the door. Bill spun around. "NOOOOOOOO!" he yelled.

It was too late for him to do anything. Within that same moment, the Survivors froze in their spots. "We're kicking ass," Zoey exclaimed before becoming completely motionless.

Bill stared ahead as the words, '**We're safe... for now**,' once again appeared in front of them."Bah-eeeeel!" screamed the Witch as she continued to run in circles, not realizing Bill was inside the safe house across the street from her.

Bill heard her screamed his name, but was unable to respond. Instead, he began wondering why the world freezes inside of the safe house, but doesn't outside of the room. He also wondered if his teammates noticed this, too.

XXX

Author's Note: That's the end of chapter seven. If you readers have noticed, then you'll know this is the longest chapter of the story so far. I don't even know the Witches can't detect Survivors that are in the safe houses. My only guess is the safe houses are only Witch-proof, since the rest of the infection can enter those houses. 

Ah, Game Logic, what would you do without it? The main reason this chapter is longer than the previous ones is because I had recently gotten a better copy of Left 4 Dead one and two, which really motivated me to write. My first copies of the games were messed up, so I was glad to get the games again for my eighteenth birthday. Anyway, I finished this chapter in the last week of September, but I decided to wait 'til October to submit it.

P.S: The trailer to the Sacrifice Downloadable Content has been released (or leaked?) last night. You should go check it out! It's EPIC!


	8. Earning His Trust

Bill blinked repeatedly, then turned to glare at Francis. Francis ignored his glare as he turned toward the other red steel door. Zoey wiped dirt off the shoulder of her jacket. Louis wiped sweat off his forehead, then raised his weapon.

Francis took one step toward the door when he heard someone clear their throat. He turned to see Bill removed his hand from his mouth, glaring at him. A smile crossed his lips as Francis faced his angry teammate. "C'mon, Bill, lighten up," he said.

The biker didn't know why the veteran was angry. He moved over to the only available exit door. The other red steel door was blocked off after they entered the safe house. He lowered his weapon, then extended a arm toward the bar, which had kept anyone outside of the kitchen from entering through that door.

"What the hell was that for?" Bill demanded, scowling. "You didn't have to shoot that damn car!"

The biker's arm paused in mid air. He slowly turned around. He noticed Louis and Zoey were staring at him, probably waiting for him open the safe house door. "It was an accident, alright," Francis lied.

His lips twitched, but were still curved into a smile. Francis turned back to the exit door. "A frickin' vampire attacked me," he continued to lie. "I had no choice, but to shoot it."

"Don't ya mean 'zombie'?" Louis asked.

Francis rolled his almond eyes. Zoey took a step forward. "Francis, if you were attacked, then why did you shoot the car?" she asked.

Francis turned, blinking. "Because... because it stood right in front of the... vehicle," he replied, somewhat hesitant as he faced the brunette woman.

Zoey stared at him, as if she didn't believe his story. Louis had gone over to the pile of ammunition. As he collected additional ammo for his submachine gun, Bill moved closer to Francis. "It's that also the reason you decided to get rid of that Witch?" he demanded.

Francis blinked as he turned back to the door. "You mean the same Witch that was following you?" he asked, removing the bar from the door.

Bill nodded. The biker grabbed the door handle. He turned back to the older man as his smile grew wider. "You mean the same Witch someone'd told me that you _almost_ kissed?"

The elder blinked. "Who told you that horseshit?" he demanded, even though he knew who.

Francis shook his head, still smiling, as he was turning back to the door. He turned the handle, then pushed the door open. He stepped out the room, then looked around. Several infected were roaming around the storage room.

A few shelves were in the room. On top of the shelves were boxes. There were also a few piles of boxes in between some of the shelves or in a corner. A freezer, big enough to be a small room or a closet, stood opposite from the safe house.

The door was left open. When Francis searched the freezer, he discovered it was empty. He turned around to leave. Just then, the biker noticed someone was standing in the doorway.

"What? I didn't know she would run away if we all entered the safe house," he lied as he recognized the person was.

Beside the first witch they'd seen, the other witches they'd encountered, especially near safe houses, would retreat when their target disappeared into said houses. Although, as a group, they only encountered five witches. Bill had encountered six witches. The fourth witch of the six was the one he met outside of Mercy Hospital.

Bill didn't reply as he continued to scowl. "Are you obsessed with witches?" Francis' eyes suddenly lit up after saying that. "You've been seeing and hearing them ever since we went to that hospital."

Bill shook his head as gunfire rang throughout the room. Zoey and Louis were taking out the infected as they searched for items. "Francis, do I have to repeat to ya what I'd told you about her?" the veteran said finally.

Francis went over to him. "'She should join our group, Francis'," he replied, mocking the war veteran. "Bullshit, Bill. You just want to make out with her."

"I do not!" Bill shot back.

Francis grinned at this. "Just admit it, Bill," he said calmly. "You got a _thing_ for witches."

Just as he finished, the gunfire in the background ceased. Francis pushed pass Bill, then exited the Harbor View Hotel's freezer. Bill spun around, raising his weapon. He watched as the biker went over to Louis and Zoey.

The two youths had exited the storage room through the only fully opened garage door. The other one wasn't close, but they would have to crouch down to go through it. Bill blinked before hurrying over. The biker turned just as Bill caught up with him.

Francis raised his pump shotgun, preparing to shoot some infected in the area. A few of them detected his presence and were lunging at him. "Hey, don't worry. We'll find your _girlfriend_," he smirked before firing his weapon.

"She ain't my girlfriend, Francis," Bill said as he joined his teammate in shooting the infected individuals.

His comment made the biker's smile grow wider. Louis' face twisted with confusion as he turned around. Zoey didn't hear Bill's reply over the gunfire. She was shooting a smoker, who'd stood on the other side of a wired fence outside of the hotel.

The Smoker spat out its tongue, but before it could reach the former college student, the Smoker exploded into smoke. The tongue collapsed onto the ground as Zoey reloaded her weapon. She turned. That's when she noticed a fire escape.

The Survivors could use it to enter the hotel. She turned back to her team. "Let's head back up," Zoey said.

The men turned toward her. Zoey was pointing at the fire escape while holding the submachine gun in her other hand. Just then, the quartet heard a shriek. It was a very familiar shriek.

The Survivors began looking around as they hurried over to the fence. "There's a hunter spookin' around out there," Bill warned.

Suddenly, they heard another shriek, which was immediately followed by a _thud_. "Get it off me! Get it off me!" cried Louis, trying to push the hoodie-wearing, eyeless creature off himself.

His teammates spun around. The Hunter was ripping his guts out as the dark-skinned male continued to call for help. "A hunter pounced Louis!" Bill yelled.

Zoey was already firing her weapon at the Hunter as she ran over to the duo. She shoved the Hunter off Louis upon reaching them, then killed the creature. Louis quickly got back on his feet before re-equipping his submachine gun. "Thanks, Zoey," he said.

Within that same moment, a boomer emerged from the garage door they had went through and was charging toward the veteran. It let out a groan upon reaching him. Bill immediately spun around - just in time to be covered in its bile.

"Ah, Gee-zus," he groaned.

Bill was struggling to see the Boomer through his blurred vision as he began backing away. He raised his weapon as sounds of common infected began filling the air. Louis spun around. He noticed the Boomer was charging after his teammate as the horde arrived.

"BOOMER!" the young man yelled.

He aimed his weapon at the Boomer, then shot the obese zombie in the stomache. The Boomer was standing too close to the veteran, so when it exploded, he stumbled. He swore as he was splashed by the creature's remaining bile. The stench was horrible.

Just then, the members of the horde surrounded him and began attacking. Louis, Zoey and Francis assisted Bill from where they stood. The veteran had still taken some damage despite the assistance from his team. As they fought off the horde, Bill thought he heard something other than the gunfire and the horde members snarling.

It sounded familiar, but he couldn't really make out what it was over the gunfire. He kept hearing the noise as more infected attacked him. At first, Bill thought he was imagining it. The Survivors finally ceased fire.

As the last infected dropped dead, the quartet reloaded their weapons, then headed over to the fire escape. As they ascended a yellow ladder leading to the platform above, Bill realized the noise had gotten a little louder. He knew this wasn't his imagination. Entering a hotel room through its bathroom window, Bill was able to recognize the noise.

It was the sound of a witch's cry. "It's a witch," Zoey whispered. "Don't disturb her and we'll be okay. Flashlights off."

A smile began to appear on Francis' face as he lightly elbowed Bill's shoulder. Bill turned, narrowing his eyes at the tattooed man. "You should go give her hug," Francis joked.

Bill scowled, but didn't reply. Instead, he turned, then began heading toward a opened doorway. Outside of the room was the corridor. "Or, better yet, you should _kiss_ her!" Francis added, before following the older man out the room.

Zoey and Louis followed soon after. The Survivors didn't bother to search the other hotel rooms. They didn't want to run into the Witch. Her cries echoed throughout the corridor as the Survivors reached a staircase at the end.

The Survivors ascended the steps. To their surprise, only a few infected were waiting for them at the top of the stairs. The Survivors took them out, then scattered as they searched the few rooms on that floor for supplies. Louis was loading another clip into his weapon.

Within that same moment, he heard a growl. Louis turned. Standing on the rooftop of the building next to the hotel was a tank. The Junior Systems Analyst could only make out the Tank's bulging, muscular arm from where he stood. The rest of the Tank was hidden behind a taller part of the building's roof.

His eyes widened in horror as he took a step back. Just then, Francis and Zoey emerged from the bedroom behind Louis. Bill exited a bathroom, holding a pistol in each hands. Louis looked at his teammates one-by-one with a terrified expression on his face.

"Guys, there's a Tank out there," he said, before pointing.

His teammates turned, then followed his finger. Their eyes widened at the sight of the infected's arm. They quickly turned to face one another. The Survivors knew, unlike witches, they would have to kill the tanks.

Witches were avoidable, unless they are in the Survivor's direct path toward safety. Francis blinked as he turned from teammate to teammate. "Anyone got a molotov?" he asked.

Louis nodded as he removed the molotov from his thigh. Francis smashed the window with the side of his weapon before turning back to the bald man. "You're going to have to set that Tank on fire," he said.

Francis moved away from the window, but was still looking at his teammate. "But don't miss him," he added. "We'll be screwed then."

Louis' eyes grew wider, but still nodded his head. He tightened his grip on the bottle as he went over to the broken window. The Tank continued to growl as it waited for someone to show up in order for it to attack. Fortunately for the large creature, humans were in the area.

Would they be able to overwhelm the Tank or would it overwhelm them? The Tank was about to find out. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" shouted Louis as he threw the molotov toward the muscular infected.

XXX

The Witch was sitting inside of a room, crying. Tears fell out of her gleaming eyes. The corridor had been silent, until a moment ago. The Witch heard muffled gunfire coming from the floor above her.

It was immediately followed by the ceiling shaking. She knew there was a tank on the floor above. The Witch guessed the Tank was attacking some Survivors. She didn't know who the Survivors were.

She knew they didn't search the rooms, otherwise, she would have seen them. The Witch wiped a tear from her eye as the ceiling suddenly stopped shaking. She let out a gasp before looking up. Did the humans kill the Tank?

Before the emaciated female could think of an answer, the ground, especially outside of the room, began to shake. The shaking grew stronger and more intense as the Tank charged through the hall. It let out a roar as it chased a human. The Witch's eyes widened as the gunfire grew louder.

It sounded like they were heading her way, the Witch realized. Suddenly, a man burst into the room. He was loading some shells into his shotgun. The female infected was only able to get a glimpse of the man's face before he lowered his head.

She let out a silent gasp. The Witch recognized who the man was. She was about to call out when the Tank emerged from the hall. The Tank was covered from head to toe in flames.

The Witch assumed the man had thrown a molotov on it. The Tank continued to pursue the human, despite being engulfed by flames. The man turned back to the Tank just as he cocked his shotgun.

He aimed his weapon at its face, then pulled the trigger. The Tank let out a groan before collapsing into a heap on the ground. The flames continued to burn the corpse for a moment before finally dissipating. The man checked his pant pocket for any spare ammo.

This gave the Witch a chance to sneak over. She was crouched as she went over to the man. As he checked his pockets for spare ammo, the man didn't realize a witch was stalking behind him. When the Witch reached him, she wrapped her bony arms around his waist.

The man let out a gasp as the infected laid her head on his lower back. She closed her eyes, smiling. "Bah-eel," she whispered.

The Witch turned her head, then began nuzzling his lower back with her nose. The man, who was actually Bill, shifted in her arms, trying to look down at her. His face was hot from being uncomfortable. _She's nuzzling my ass, _the veteran thought.

Just then, Francis and Zoey appeared in the doorway. They looked around the room as they entered. Louis was killed by the Tank. He set it on fire, but unfortunately for him, he had been standing by a edge.

He had been the creature's target. So when the Tank had punched him, he went flying off. Francis' eyes paused on the flustered war veteran and the Witch, who had him in her grasp. He laughed at the other man's discomfort.

Zoey turned. When she saw the duo, her eyes widened in disbelief. Bill had shot Francis a glare as the latter finished laughing. "I would say 'I told you so,' but I see you're enjoying yerself here, so I'm not going to kill the mood," he said, smiling.

Bill blinked as he scowled. "This witch likes Bill, huh?" Zoey began to smile. "That's something you don't see every day..."

She turned away, covering her mouth with her hand. The young female began letting out soft chuckles. Bill turned his glare onto her. The biker let out a chuckle, then became serious.

"Don't we have a plane to catch?" he asked, turning from teammate to teammate.

Zoey turned back around. "Yeah, we do," she replied, lowering her hand from her face.

"Then let's go!"

Zoey and Francis began leaving the room. Bill shook out of the Witch's grasp, then hurried over to them. The Witch immediately stood up, knowing he was leaving. She raced after him.

It didn't take long for her to catch up and when she did, the group traced their steps back to the rooftop where they fought the Tank. As they exited the hotel via window, the Witch began wondering how Bill kept vanishing from view whenever he ran ahead. She remembered after she'd saved him from that hunter inside of Mercy's lobby, more members of the horde arrived. She remembered attacking them before they began ignoring her.

The Witch's gaze followed them to a red steel door. She never figured out why they were attacking the door, but she remembered Bill had vanished at that point, in which had caused her to run away. She also remembered seeing an identical steel door on the twenty eighth floor when she was chasing the former college student while Bill ran alongside.

The Witch also remembered seeing that same door outside of the Harbor View Hotel. The same hotel the group had left a few minutes ago. She saw that door when Bill and his friends _literally_ disappeared into that kitchen...

Wait a minute, the Witch realized something about those events. Those red steel doors must have some type of anti-witch barriers, preventing her from entering the safe houses or detecting the Survivors' presence when they're in said houses. Now, she believed she knows another reason why Bill disappears, beside his teammates and him escaping in a rescue vehicle.

The Witch began wondering how she could break those barriers and enter safe rooms with the Survivors. As she thought, the humans searched the rooftop for any supplies. The tallest part of the roof, where the Tank had hid, had four molotov cocktails on top. There was also a crane beside the lower parts of the roof.

It was close enough to the rooftop for the Survivors to climb inside of it. On the end of the crane's arm was a dumpster. It hung above an large alley. The Survivors couldn't access the other rooftop across from them - the rooftop was too far from them.

There also wasn't any bridges made of hardware store planks for them to cross. They had to think of another way to cross. As they thought and collected any explosive they could carry, an idea suddenly appeared in Francis' mind. He turned back to the crane.

After a moment of examining it, he realized what they could use it for. "We gotta lower that dumpster," Francis said as he turned back to his teammates.

Bill and Zoey turned back to the dumpster. That's when they noticed yellow rungs on the side of it. It indicated that they must climb the dumpster to get across. Like the biker had said, they would have to lower the dumpster in order to get to the other building.

The veteran turned back to Francis. "Good thinking," he replied before the group went over to the crane.

When they had gotten inside of the crane, Zoey wrapped her hand around the lever and pulled it down. The place was cramped. The four of them had trouble staying inside without pushing one another toward the edget. Just as Zoey let go of the lever, the crane's arm made loud squeeking noises as it began lowering the dumpster.

Within that same moment, the three humans and the "special" infected heard shouts, snarls and groans of protest. They all knew within a moment they'll have to fight a horde. Soon, the infected citizens of that city came pouring onto the rooftop, all of them determined to kill the non infected. Two of the Survivors opened fire on them.

Francis removed the molotov from his thigh, then raised his forearm. "GRENADE!" he shouted as he reeled back his arm, then threw the cocktail through the air.

The molotov cocktail crashed and shattered on the rooftop, immediately setting the horde's members on fire. They ran through the flames, flailing their arms, trying to brush off the fire. Their bodies collapsed into heaps on the roof as the flames continued to consume them. The Witch watched, wondering if she would get to kill anything.

She turned. She was the first one to spot a boomer. It groaned as it emerged from the window the group had gone through. The Witch opened her mouth to try to warn the Survivors.

The Boomer unintentionally did them all a favor by going through the wall of flames. Since Boomers have the least amount of health in comparision of other special infected, it didn't take long for the obese infected to succumb to the flames. The Boomer exploded into a shower of blood and guts, but it was too far from the humans to splash them in its bile. "Popped it!" Francis said triumphantly.

Zoey rolled grey her eyes. She suddenly heard a shriek. She immediately turned. Soaring in the air toward her was a hunter.

The Hunter's arms were extended out in front of it as it launched toward the brunette. "HUNTER!" she cried, raising her arms as if to shield herself.

Zoey thought she didn't have enough time to shoot it. Her eyes widened in horror as the Hunter crashed into her. The impact caused her to stumble back. Her elbow brushed against the lever.

She thought she had stopped the crane. Her jacket was once again stained with blood. Fortunately for the former college student, it wasn't her blood. The Hunter let out its final shriek as it collapsed onto the ground.

"Got it," Bill said triumphantly.

Zoey began wiping the blood off her jacket. "Good one," she complimented, turning toward him.

She flashed him a smile. Suddenly, Zoey heard a growl. She spun around to see the Witch glaring at her. Her teeth were gritted.

The Witch didn't care if the other female gave him a compliment. She didn't want her to become romantically involve with her man. Zoey tried to back away from the anorexic infected. She seemed to forget there wasn't much room inside of that machine.

Zoey pulled her arms back. She accidentally elbowed the senior in his eye. He lowered his weapon and was about to place a hand on his eye when Zoey bumped him hard in the back. Bill stumbled forward and fell off the crane.

The Witch gasped as she watched him fall. Luckily for him, Bill didn't fall far. He managed to land on his feet on the rooftop. The flames also had fully dissipated before he fell.

He took a few staggering steps forward, trying to regain his balance. The Witch pushed pass Zoey and Francis, then descended the ladder. Just as she placed a foot on the roof, she heard coughing. She looked around.

When she didn't see who was coughing, the Witch climbed the rest of the way down. She hurried over to Bill just as he regained his balance. As she ran, the female infected spotted someone at the corner of her eye. She stopped short, then turned toward the person.

Her eyes widened at the sight of a smoker. It stood on the rooftop across from them. It watched Bill with its only eye as he readjusted the shotgun in his hands. The Smoker let out another loud cough.

Bill turned. He raised his weapon. "SMOKER!" he shouted.

The Smoker gaped its mouth, then cried, "Gahhh!"

It spat out its tongue. The tongue made its way toward the veteran. The Witch gasped before rushing over to him. Just as she reached him, the ashened-skinned woman felt the warm, moist tongue wrapped herself.

She knew the Smoker had grabbed her. The Smoker'd missed its original target. The tall, lanky creature decided to pull back its tongue regardless of her being the wrong target. The Witch screamed as she was jerked off the roof.

Bill opened fire on the Smoker as he rushed over to the edge. The Witch was sure she would plummet into the alley below, so she reached out. She managed to grabbed the ledge, but still had the Smoker's tongue wrapped around her torso. She cried out as the tongue's grip tightened.

The Witch gazed up as the veteran reached the edge. He was still shooting the Smoker. His last shot caused the infected to explode into a cloud of green. Bill was considering to reload his weapon.

"BEEEEL!" the Witch shrieked as her grip on the ledge began to loosen.

Her eyes sparkled as they began to water. She wasn't sure if she'll survive the fall. Bill knelt down as he placed the shotgun on his back. He reached a hand toward one of hers.

"C'mon, grab my hand," Bill instructed. "I'm going to get you back on your feet then we gotta move."

The Witch removed a hand from the ledge, then reached out. She ended up scraping his hand with her overgrown nails. Bill cried out in pain. The Witch gasped.

She had hurt her Bill again and, this time, he was trying to help her. Tears began pouring from her eyes like a fire hydrant hose with the water pressure turned up too high. Bill ignored her cries as he reached out and grabbed her wrist. He began pulling her back onto the roof, despite the throbbing pain in his hand.

He'll have to fight through the pain if he wanted to save her. A moment later, she was back on the roof. The Witch looked up at him as tears continued to stream down her face. She was glad to be saved by him, but she still couldn't get over the fact that she'd caused him pain.

The Witch was surprised he'd willingly helped her despite that. Bill grabbed his hand, then peered down at it. Red scratch marks were on his palm and some of his fingers. Forunately for him, the scratches weren't deep enough to puncture the skin.

Bill's eyes were narrowed as he turned back to the Witch. He reached his other hand out and, to her surprise, began wiping the tears from her face. "Quit your blubbering," he said. "We gotta keep moving."

Bill removed his hand from the infected's face, then stood up. The Witch gazed up at him, blinking away tears. "Save your tears for when we're outta of this hellhole."

He turned around, removing the shotgun from his back. Bill held the shotgun in both hands, despite the throbbing pain in his right one. _It'll go away,_ he thought.

The Witch wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye before standing up. Zoey and Francis had finally ceased fire. They had finished off the horde and just in time for the dumpster to arrive. "Our dumpster's here. Let's go!" the war veteran beckoned.

Zoey switched to her pistol while Francis loaded the last few shells into his shotgun as they hurried over to the dumpster. Bill placed the shotgun back on his back and was about to ascend the ladder. Suddenly, he felt a hand lightly tap his shoulder.

He turned. The Witch removed her hand from his shoulder as she looked at him. Another stray tear streamed down her face as she moved closer to him. Before Bill could say or do anything, the anorexic woman kissed him softly on the lips.

Zoey blinked repeatedly as they departed. She stared at them in disbelief. Bill and the Witch had turned toward Zoey and Francis. When the Witch turned her gaze on the other female, she noticed her taking a step back.

A smile had crossed the biker's lips as he closed his eyes. "Hell, Louis _is_ right," he exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. "Bill _did_ kiss that Witch."

XXX

A few minutes later, the quartet were searching the rooms of a building they'd entered via window. Bill had stepped out of a closet, not finding anything inside. The closet was empty. He closed the door, then turned around.

He took one step forward when he heard someone call out: "Anyone out there? I'm trapped in here! Get me out!"

Bill spun around, realizing the voice was coming from behind. He also recognized the voice. It was the voice of his dead teammate, Louis. His eyes widened when he noticed a orange outline of his teammate inside of the closet he'd just checked.

_Just a moment ago, this closet was empty,_ Bill thought. _I still don't get how my teammates come back from dead via small rooms or closets. This shit's worse than 'Nam._

The veteran reached out, then opened the door, "rescuing" Louis from the closet. Louis lowered his arms before saying, "Thanks, man."

Bill had already turned and left. The bald man blinked before stepping out the closet. He followed the veteran as he regrouped with the others. His eyes widened in horror at the sight of the Witch.

"WITCH!" he yelled, terrified, before pointing at her.

The Witch let out a gasp before pulling her mouth back into a snarl. He took step back, still pointing at her. Zoey and Francis turned toward her. Bill turned toward Louis.

"Can ya give it a rest?" He narrowed his eyes at the other man. "She's sticking with the group whether you want her to or not. Pointing at her and crying out 'witch' isn't going to make the situation any better."

Bill turned, then began walking. Zoey, Francis and the Witch hurried over to him. Louis watched, but didn't follow. "You'll just piss her off, which will jeopardize the entire team," Bill added as he pushed a pair of double doors open.

He began exiting the room. "Then why do you want her on our team?" Louis asked suddenly.

Bill stopped short, then turned around. The room became silent as he turned from teammate to teammate before stopping on the bald man. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke. "Because I'd learned to trust her, and I want you people to do the same."

That was half of the truth. The other half he still doesn't know if he'll admit to himself. After all, he only known her for a little less than a day. Bill _can't_ be in love with her.

That's just a crazy thought. She _is_ a zombie after all! The war veteran turned back to the opened doorway. "We're not getting out of this city unless you people learn to cooperate with one another," he added before leaving.

The three humans exchanged glances before turning to the Witch. The female infected wondered why they were staring at her. Did she miss something? She turned to see the bald man ask the other female, "When did Bill meet this Witch?"

The brunette female shrugged. The bald man began scratching his cheek. "I don't remember seeing her when we're going to that hospital."

The biker frowned as he stared at them. "I'm tired of waitin' around here," he complained. "C'mon, let's go."

Without waiting to see if his teammates were following, the biker turned, then made his way out of the room through the same double doors Bill had use. The brunette female and the bald man took one more glance at the Witch before following the biker's trail. She followed them, wondering what was going on. She must have missed what the veteran had said.

If the Witch wasn't so captivated by his beauty, she would have heard him, she thought.

XXX

The pentrad had entered another building. Each floor they had been to were filled with offices. This place was probably once a corporation run by a wealthy business man with employees as the foundation of its success. Now, it was reduced to a wrecked, abandoned building filled with decaying corpses and infected citizens roaming about.

As the group searched the offices, Louis thought he heard something. He turned back to his teammates. Zoey was trying to navigate through the offices. The room was dark and her only light source was her flashlight. A green, neon exit sign lied ahead.

Beyond it was a doorway with stairs that lead to the floor below them. Francis was shooting some infected in the area. Bill and the Witch were nowhere to be seen. They were probably searching another room on the same floor.

Louis turned back to Francis. He was now reloading his automatic shotgun. The group had found more weapons when they'd entered the building a few minutes earlier. They also found some pills in a red, first aid cabinet on the same floor they'd found the weapons.

"Hold on, hold on. Shhh," Louis said, motioning the biker to be silent.

Francis paused, holding a shotgun shell between his index finger and thumb. He turned, narrowing his eyes. "I hear a damn witch," Louis whispered. "Kill the light, man."

The biker blinked as he dropped the shell into the weapon. He turned back to his shotgun just as he cocked it. "She's with Bill," he reminded the younger male. "Don'tcha remember?"

Louis shook his head. "No, I hear another one," he answered quietly.

Francis shook his head before moving forward. Louis let out a sigh, thinking his teammate didn't believe him. A door swung open from behind, startling the young man. He gasped as he whirled around.

Standing behind him were Bill and the Witch. The older male had his beady eyes narrowed. "Who closed the damn door?" he demanded. "I thought I'd told you people not to close the god damn door."

"Bill, did'ja hear that?" Louis asked, interrupting his bickering.

Bill blinked. "Hear what?"

Louis' eyes widened. "I heard a witch's cry."

The veteran shook his head. "I've tried that, kid," he said. "It didn't work."

Louis blinked repeatedly. "I'm serious here. I've heard a witch's..."

He heard another moan. Louis turned toward the sound. Just as it came, it went. He listened out for more cries.

After a moment of silence, the Junior Systems Analyst let out a sigh before turning back to the duo. He noticed the Witch had wrapped her bony arms around the war veteran. Maybe she believed him when he said he had heard another witch's cry? Louis turned his gaze onto the other male.

Bill stared back at him, his expression was a mixture of annoyance and disbelief. Louis raised his arms. "C'mon, man. Why don't you believe me?" he asked.

Bill opened his mouth to speak. Suddenly, someone called out. The two Survivors exchanged glances, then hurried over to the area where they heard the shout. The Witch followed, close behind.

The trio reached the staircase, then quickly descended the steps. Before they could reach the bottom steps, they noticed Zoey and Francis were standing on the floor in front of the stairs. They were blocking the trio's view of the next room. Zoey and Francis were staring at something ahead.

What they were staring at had froze them in their spots. A witch was sitting outside of the doorway. Her cries had been interrupted by the sound of Zoey's voice when she'd called out. The Witch was growling as she began standing up.

Louis turned to Bill, who was peering over Francis' shoulder. "Now do you believe me?" he asked.

Bill pulled his head back, then turned. He narrowed his eyes at Louis. "We don't have time for that," he said before turning back to the Witch.

The Witch beside him was also peering over the biker's shoulder. She noticed the other witch was on the verge of attacking. She remembered she was like that when Francis was insulting her back at the hospital. In any moment, the other Witch would attack.

The emaciated female didn't want her to strike, especially her man. She knew now she had to do something. The Witch raised her arms, then pushed pass Louis and Bill before reaching the bottom steps. Just as she was about to push pass Francis and Zoey, she heard a shriek.

She looked ahead to see the other Witch lunged at one of the Survivors, determined to kill them. She didn't realize her own kind was trying to protect the humans. She struck the former college student, immobilizing her. Zoey cried out as she landed on her back.

The Witch raised her arms, preparing to shred the clothing and flesh off the female below her. Just as she was about to strike, she felt pain in her back. Her arms paused in mid air as she peered down. The pain in her back grew more intense as the seconds went by, until, suddenly, nails, similar to hers, came bursting out from her chest.

The Witch noticed the nails were covered in her blood. Some of the blood trickled off the nails. Some of the blood dropped onto Zoey's face as she turned her head. She noticed another Witch standing behind the one that just about to kill her.

The Witch pulled back her arm back, removing the nails from her brethen's abdomen. The other Witch spat out blood before she collapsed onto the ground, dead. The remaining infected lowered her arm as blood continued to trickled off her nails. Apparently, she had no problem killing her own kind.

The only reason she attacked the other Witch was because she thought she'll go after Bill. Even when she didn't, the Witch still attacked her because she knew Zoey was his friend and if she was killed, he would be affected. Although, the Witch doesn't really care about her, she knows she'll have to learn to if she wanted to stay as a member of the team.

Francis knelt down and helped Zoey get back on her feet. When she was back on her feet, she re-equipped her hunting rifle. "Thanks for saving me," she said, at first looking at Francis, then turning to the Witch.

The Witch noticed a smile had crossed the other female's lips. It was a weak smile, but a smile nonetheless. The Witch's facial expression didn't change. Instead, she turned around.

She noticed Louis and Bill were still on the stairs. The Witch couldn't tell, but it appeared the latter was smiling. It wasn't a wide smile, but it appeared he had a small smile underneath his silver moustache. The Witch flashed him a smile, showing off her rotten teeth.

The pentrad finally entered the next room. To their luck, they found themselves inside of a lobby. A pistol lied on top of the reception desk. "Two pistols, cool," Zoey exclaimed as she grabbed a pistol from the desk.

The three men did the same. Beside the double glass doors lying a few feet ahead, there were two other doorways. One was the employee's lounge, which had a vending machine, a table, knocked over chairs, a coffee machine resting on top of a counter, a sink in the counter beside the machine, and a closed closet inside.

The other doorway, which had a corridor inside, lead to an alley outside of the building. A exit sign hung from the door frame. Bill was peering out the glass doors. He noticed infected citizens were wandering the street.

There was also a car with an alarm parked in front of the building. Other vehicles were piled up at both ends of the street, blocking off the rest of the road. Bill turned. He spotted a storaging place called, "Self Storage," across the street.

He turned back to his teammates. The veteran noticed his teammates were discussing something among themselves. He went over to them. His teammates stopped talking, then looked up at him as he approached.

"Hey, Bill," Louis called. "We're just discussing a nickname."

"For who?" Bill demanded as he reached them.

He noticed the Witch stood beside the bald man. She turned her gaze on Bill, her eyes sparkling. "We're trying to come up with a good nickname for that Witch," Louis answered, motioning toward the infected beside him.

"If she's going to be apart of our team, then she'll need a name," Zoey explained. "We can't keep calling her, 'Witch,' especially when encountering another one. 'Cause if we yell, 'witch,' she'll think we're adressing her, even when we're not."

"Alright, then. What is it?" Bill demanded, tightening the grip on his assault rifle. "What are the names you've come up with?"

"We could call her Crystal," Francis suggested.

His teammates turned to look at him. His face grew hot from their stares. "Y'know, like the glass or gem," he added quickly. "Not like a stripper..."

Bill shook his head. "No, Francis," he replied.

"How about Jan?" Zoey suggested.

Her teammates shook their heads. "What about Selene, like the main vampire character in the _Underworld_ movie series?" Francis asked, smirking.

Louis turned, opening his mouth to say, "she isn't a vampire," when Francis continued. "It seems fitting. They're both short, slender and inhumanly pale. Plus, they both desire the taste for human blood."

Zoey gawked at him. Louis shook his head. "Except, Kate Beckingsale makes one hella hot vampire," the biker added. "This chick here... well, she's far from being considered pretty."

The Witch, by this time, was groaning. It was already bad enough Francis had insulted her back at the hospital, blew her up with a pipe bomb and had shot her in the hands. She was trying her hardest not to attack him. She knew if she did, they'll kick her off the team.

Although, her natural witch instincts were telling her to strike him. She gritted her teeth as she watched. The Survivors were looking at her. They were surprise about her being agitated.

Bill turned his gaze on the biker. He suddenly had a thought as to why the Witch was angry. "Francis, shut up," he said.

Francis immediately turned toward him. "Huh? What did I do?" he asked.

Bill pointed at the raging infected. Francis blinked. "What makes you think I'd pissed her off?"

The veteran lowered his arm. "You insulted her," he answered.

"What? She's a god damn witch, Bill!" the biker exclaimed. "She probably doesn't understand most of the things we're saying!"

"You've got a lot to learn, kid," Bill muttered before turning back to the glass doors.

Francis grumbled a swear at the elder before turning back to his other teammates. Apparently, the two of them had continued to discuss a nickname for the infected, regardless of Bill and Francis' bickering. "Maybe she could be called, Elle," Louis said.

Francis turned his head toward Zoey. He noticed she was shaking her head. "Her name shouldn't be a letter," she replied.

Louis turned to face her. "It's not a singular letter, Zoe," he replied. "Elle is short for Ellen and Elle is spelled..."

"You know what? I just realized I don't care," the biker interjected, cutting him off. "Lead on," he added as he turned to Zoey.

Bill ignored their discussion as he spotted something other than the roaming infected. There was a drawing on the wall beside the entrance of the storage place. He immediately recognized the drawing as the nearby safe house sign. Bill spun around.

"People, we gotta keep moving," he called, motioning with his hand for his team to follow. "Those bastards will show up if we stick around here. There's a safe house across the street. You can give the Witch a nickname when we get there."

"What about Leah?" Zoey asked suddenly, completely ignoring what the old man had just finished explaining.

The senior shot her a glare as she turned from teammate to teammate, waiting for a response. Suddenly, a chorus of shouts, shrieks and groans filled the air. The group knew within a moment, they'll have to fight off another horde. Bill was right - they had been standing in that spot for too long.

XXX

A few minutes later, after defeating the horde, the pentrad arrived at the safe house. As they approached the red steel door, the Witch reached out and grabbed Bill's arm. He stopped short, then turned toward her. He gazed into her eyes as she frowned.

The Witch knew once he took a step into that room, she won't be able to detect his presence. She didn't want him to go into that room, unless she can enter said room, too. The infected believed if the red steel door could be removed, then the anti-witch barrier will be broken. It would allow her to enter the safe house, she thought.

Bill turned back to his other teammates just as Zoey was about to enter the safe house. "People, wait," he called.

The trio stopped short, then turned around. They noticed Bill and the Witch were still near the entrance. "She can't enter safe houses, remember?" Bill continued, motioning toward the Witch. "Someone will have to stay out here with her."

The three humans exchanged glances, then dashed inside of the safe house. The war veteran repeatedly blinked as he heard a metallic _CLICK! _He knew they had probably locked the door. The Witch moved a little closer to him, lightly squeezing his arm.

Suddenly, Francis' face appeared in the barred window in the red steel door. He looked around. A smile appeared on his face as his gaze landed on the two silver haired individuals. The biker noticed the angry expression on the older male's face.

"What the hel - " Bill began.

"Hey! She likes you better than the rest of us," Francis said, interrupting him. "Besides, if you need protection, she'll provide that for you."

Before Bill could say anything else, the biker disapppeared back into the room. The veteran stood glaring at the barred window for a moment. The Witch lightly tugged his arm, trying to get his attention. It worked.

He turned toward her. The Witch raised her other arm, then extending her index finger. Bill followed her finger. There was a closet opposite the safe house.

He turned back to her. "You want us to go in _there_?" the veteran asked.

The infected nodded. Bill was sure they weren't have any protection in that room, much less space to stretch. Before he could think of another place for them to rest inside, he heard loud, raspy coughs. Bill knew there was a smoker in the area.

Quickly, he lead her to the tiny room. Bill pushed her lightly into the closet, and when she was inside, he entered, closing the door behind him. He knew the Smoker could break down the door and attack. The door wasn't made out of metal.

The war veteran had his M16 at the ready as he stared at the door, in a crouching prosition. The Smoker should arrive within a moment, especially if it knew a lone Survivor was hiding inside of a closet, and the only thing that stood in its way was a flimsy door. Bill felt someone breathing down his neck. He raised his hand, then waved it back and forward in front of the person.

"Move back," Bill ordered, whispering. "I can't concentrate on shooting with you breathing down my neck."

The Witch blinked before trying to scoot back. She couldn't. The closet was nearly as cramped as the crane. She sat up straight, then lowered her gaze at him.

Bill was still waiting for that Smoker to arrive so he could kill it. As she watched him, the Witch remembered something. She placed a hand on his shoulder, then began tapping it lightly. "What is it?" he demanded, not turning around.

The infected removed her hand from his shoulder. "Wich p-pro-t-t-teck Bah-eel," she said, stuttering.

Bill slowly turned around, but still had his weapon pointing at the door. He was having some trouble understanding what she had said. That's when Bill remembered she was suppose to get a nickname. Was now the best time to give her a nickname?

Suddenly, the duo heard someone pounding on a door. They immediately turned toward the door. They both listened to the noise. It sounded like someone was pounding their fist on a thick piece of metal.

That's when Bill realized the Smoker was attacking the safe house door. The Smoker was trying to attack one of his teammates inside of that room. It was only a matter of time before the infected realized there was another Survivor hiding in the closet behind it. Bill turned back to the female infected as he reached out and grabbed the door knob.

He realized he could save ammo if he had the Witch kill the Smoker. "When I open this door, I want you to kill that Smoker, Leah," the veteran commanded.

The emaciated infected's eyes widened in surprise. Did Bill just call her by another name? She thought he liked calling her, "Witch." That nickname was beginning to grow on her.

For all she knew, "Leah" is the only name he remembered from the discussion the other humans were having earlier. Maybe he called her that by mistake? The infected wasn't so sure about that. She could go along with the name.

After all, she disliked her current name. So, "Leah," could become her new name. She didn't care if his teammates don't address her by that name. It only mattered to her if William addressed her as, "Leah."

XXX

Author's Note: Originally, I wasn't going to give her a nickname, but I made them run into another Witch and I might have confused you, readers. So, I decided to give her one. Anyway, this chapter may be shorter than chapter seven, but it's still longer than the first six. That's without the Author's Note. 

I might make the rest of the chapters, especially during "The Sacrifice" campaign (oops, did I typed that?) longer than my original amount of words per chapter length, which is usually around 6000 words. Only time will tell... Anyway, I hoped you'd enjoyed this chapter.

P.S: I know I'm slow with the romance. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to make Bill fall in love with the Witch in such a short period of time without making him completely out of character. You might actually know that if you'd been reading my Author Notes (which I'm certain you haven't).


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